Search parameters

The study of the nature and essence of humankind (Random House). For example, during the Enlightenment, "a genre of philosophical anthropology that deduced a primitive state of nature from later civilized forms became popular. Some thinkers such as Rousseau espoused primitivism; others, notably Diderot, lauded the beliefs and customs of the Tahitians, who seemed innocent, tolerant and peaceful. Speculative anthropologies were central to the Scottish endeavour to trace the supposed progress of mankind from primitivism to politeness, from rudeness to refinement" (paraphrased from the Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment).