The Subject of Virtue An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom [Hardcover]

A clearly written, sophisticated summary of and prospectus for a flourishing current field of anthropological research.The anthropology of ethics has become an important and fast-growing field in recent years. This book argues that it represents not just a new subfield within anthropology but a conceptual renewal of the discipline as a whole. An ideal introduction for students and researchers in anthropology and related human sciences.The anthropology of ethics has become an important and fast-growing field in recent years. This book argues that it represents not just a new subfield within anthropology but a conceptual renewal of the discipline as a whole. An ideal introduction for students and researchers in anthropology and related human sciences.The anthropology of ethics has become an important and fast-growing field in recent years. This book argues that it represents not just a new subfield within anthropology but a conceptual renewal of the discipline as a whole, enabling it to take account of a major dimension of human conduct which social theory has so far failed adequately to address. An ideal introduction for students and researchers in anthropology and related human sciences. Shows how ethical concepts such as virtue, character, freedom and responsibility may be incorporated into anthropological analysis Surveys the history of anthropology's engagement with morality Examines the relevance for anthropology of two major philosophical approaches to moral life.1. Beyond the science of unfreedom; 2. Virtue ethics: philosophy with an ethnographic stance?; 3. Foucault's genealogy and the undefined work of freedom; 4. The 'question of freedom' in anthropology; 5. Taking responsibility seriously; 6. Endnote: the reluctant cannibal.Advance Praise: James Laidlaw's book, which has the advantage of being elegantly written, is bound to transform the anthropological study of morality and ethics. Along the way, he helps us rethink many of our most important l£o