Anthropology:

The study of humanity is referred to as Anthropology. Anthropology is originated from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. The term has its origin in Greek which means “man” “study”. There by it has become study of man and then the study of humanities as a whole.   The German philosopher Magnus Hundt was the first one to use the term in 1501.

Anthropology is basically concerned about several important questions on the society like "Who are the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens?", “What defines Homo sapiens?", "Why are there variations and differences among different groups of humans?" "What are humans' physical traits?", "How has the evolutionary past of Homo sapiens influenced its social organization and culture?", "How do humans behave?" 

There are four different sub-fields in the contemporary namely, linguistic anthropology, cultural anthropology, physical anthropology and archaeology. The anthropology programs and the undergraduate textbooks reflect the four-field approach to anthropology. There are several departments in the universities of United Kingdom which housed the different books of these subfields.

The structuralist and the post-modern theories have got greater impact in the social and the cultural sub-field and also in the shift toward the analysis of modern societies. There was an epistemological shift from the positivist tradition which had largely informed the discipline during the 1970s and 1980s. Anthropology as a discipline has lacked cohesion with the epistemology for several decades because of the difference in epistemology. There are also division of several departments, for example; in Stanford University, the scientists and the non-scientists divided themselves into two different departments in 1988 to 1989 as cultural & social anthropology and anthropological sciences. But later in 2008 and 2009, these departments reunified.

Analyzing the trends of Anthropology, there are several basic trends that unite anthropological work. The quality of anthropology to be highly empirical provides anthropology a more holistic account of phenomena. The anthropologists were to study a particular thing or place in details use different methods in parts of academia over a more extensive period due to the pressure from the quest for holism.

Though initially the focus of the social and cultural anthropology was on the study of cultures around the world, the focus has been shifted on a later stage. There were discussion in 1990s and 2000s concerning the change of culture. There was a need for clarification on what constitutes a culture knowing how an observer would be able to recognize where his own culture comes to an end and the other culture begins.

Questions

• What are question that anthropology is based on?
• What are the four sub-fields of anthropology?