difference
**This is an old revision of the document!**
Difference
People are different from each other. For some scholars and thinkers, these differences don't have any important meaning. They are just variations on an underlying unity and fundamental similarity.
- Sure, everyone has a different hair color; the important thing is that everyone has hair.
- Sure, some people are short and some are tall, and a few are over seven feet tall. But what matters is that the average height is five foot nine and most people are a little above or below that.
- Sure, everyone has different ideas about personal space. But 12 inches feels right to me, and if people deviate from that, then they are just bad people and don't deserve my attention.
Anthropology is always trying to unsettle these kinds of views. When it makes claims about being a human, it starts from the view that humanity is defined by its diversity, and that there is no “normal” or “correct” way to be human.
difference.1589932960.txt.gz · Last modified: 2020/05/19 17:02 by Ryan Schram (admin)