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"Two apparently contradictory things are both true about the anthropology of ethics. It is true that the academic discipline of anthropology has been concerned with ethics and morality throughout its whole history. It is also true that until the last couple of decades there was nothing that could reasonably be called the anthropology of ethics. Its advent has been felt to be such a distinct development that we are routinely said to have undergone an 'ethical turn', yet people also feel moved, equally routinely, to point out that anthropologists have been writing about morality all along, and they are indeed correct in saying this"--
List of contents
1. Introduction James Laidlaw; Part I. Intellectual Sources and Disciplinary Engagements: 2. Moral and political philosophy Hallvard Lillehammer; 3. Virtue ethics Jonathan Mair; 4. Agonistic pluralists James Laidlaw and Patrick McKearney; 5. The two faces of Michel Foucault Paolo Heywood; 6. Phenomenology Samuel Williams; 7. Cognitive science Harry Walker and Natalia Buitron; 8. Theology Michael Banner; Part II. Aspects of Ethical Agency: 9. Making the ethical in social interaction Webb Keane and Michael Lempert; 10. Freedom Soumhya Venkatesan; 11. Responsibility Catherine Trundle; 12. Emotion and affect Teresa Kuan; 13. Happiness and wellbeing Edward F. Fischer and Sam Victor; 14. Suffering and sympathy Abby Mack and C. Jason Throop; 15. Ambiguity and difference Adam B. Seligman and Robert P. Weller; Part III. Media and Modes of Ethical Practice: 16. Self-cultivation Joanna Cook; 17. Exemplars Nicholas H. A. Evans; 18. Ritual Letha Victor and Michael Lambek; 19. Values Julian Sommerschuh and Joel Robbins; 20. Rules Morgan Clarke; 21. On ethical pedagogies James D. Faubion; Part IV. Intimate and Everyday Life: 22. Care Cheryl Mattingly and Patrick McKearney; 23. Kinship and love Perveez Mody; 24. Cooperation and punishment Anni Kajanus and Charles Stafford; 25. Favours David Henig and Nicolette Makovicky; 26. The inimical gaze Carlos D. Londoño Sulkin; 27. Animals Rosie Jones-McVey; 28. God T. M. Luhrmann; Part V. Institutional Life: 29. Modern capitalism and ethical plurality Robert W. Hefner; 30. The ethics of trade and commerce Paul Anderson and Magnus Marsden; 31. Activism and political organization Sian Lazar; 32. Philanthropy China Scherz; 33. Science Matei Candea; 34. Communist morality under socialism Yunxiang Yan.
About the author
James Laidlaw is William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of King's College. He is the author of The Archetypal Actions of Ritual (with Caroline Humphrey, 1994), Riches and Renunciation (1995), and The Subject of Virtue (2014), and the editor of The Essential Edmund Leach (with Stephen Hugh-Jones, 2000), Ritual and Memory (with Harvey Whitehouse, 2004), Religion, Anthropology, and Cognitive Science (with Harvey Whitehouse, 2007), and Recovering the Human Subject (with Barbara Bodenhorn and Martin Holbraad, 2018).
Summary
The 'ethical turn' in anthropology since the millennium has fostered new dialogue between anthropology and philosophy, psychology, and theology. Authoritative and cutting-edge, this book brings together established and emerging leaders in the field, and makes the results of this vibrant body of diverse research available in one volume.
