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In light of our differences : how diversity in nature and culture makes us human / David Harmon.
- Format:
- Book
- Government document
- Author/Creator:
- Harmon, David, 1958-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Human beings.
- Cultural pluralism.
- Biodiversity.
- Human ecology--Philosophy.
- Human ecology.
- Language attrition.
- James, William, 1842-1910.
- James, William.
- Physical Description:
- xvi, 224 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Washington [D.C.] : Smithsonian Institution Press, [2002]
- Contents:
- 1 Voltaire's Solution 1
- Diversity, Globalization, and the Roots of Endangerment 5
- The Great Chain of Being and the Principle of Plenitude 9
- The Romantic Transformation and Beyond 14
- The Real Discovery of Diversity 17
- 2 The Converging Extinction Crises 19
- Biodiversity as Scientific Concept and Rallying Cry 23
- A Brief History of Biological Extinctions 27
- Agriculture and the Decline of Variety 29
- Extinction Rates: Measuring the Past, Predicting the Future 33
- What is Cultural Diversity? 40
- Globalization and Cultural Diversity 42
- The Value of Cultural Diversity 44
- Indicators of Cultural Diversity 46
- Language: The Best Proxy 55
- The History of Language Extinctions: Some Speculations 58
- Prospects for Languages in the Coming Century 60
- The Example of Manx 70
- The Biocultural Presence 71
- 3 Species, Languages, and the Structure of Diversity 74
- Similarities Between Species and Languages 79
- Speciation and Language Genesis 82
- Endemism in Species and Languages 87
- Reasons for Decline 93
- Assessing Diversity 95
- Monothetic versus Polythetic Classification 97
- Foundations of Polythetic Classification 99
- Polythetic Classification: Recent Elaborations 103
- Polythetic Groups as "Natural Kinds" 108
- The Reality of Species and Languages 117
- 4 What We Do with Difference 119
- Distilling Sameness from Difference: William James 122
- Distilling Sameness from Difference: A Model 127
- Diversity and Determinism 131
- A Polythetic Universe 135
- Loss of Diversity: Cognitive and Cultural Consequences 139
- Our Evolutionary Inheritance 145
- 5 Diversity and the Human Identity 147
- Are Biological and Cultural Diversity Really Related? 150
- Avoiding the Trap of Relativism: Polythetic Morality 153
- The Coming Threshold 160
- From Uniformity to Unity 163.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-219) and index.
- ISBN:
- 158834066X
- OCLC:
- 49512702
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