World-leading anthropologists and philosophers pursue the perplexing question fundamental to
both disciplines: What is it to think of ourselves as human? A common theme is the open-ended
and context-dependent nature of our notion of the human one upshot of which is that
perplexities over that notion can only be dealt with in a piecemeal fashion and in relation to
concrete real-life circumstances. Philosophical anthropology understood as the exploration of
such perplexities will thus be both recognizably philosophical in character and inextricably
bound up with anthropological fieldwork. The volume is put together accordingly: Precisely by
mixing ostensibly philosophical papers with papers that engage in close anthropological study
of concrete issues it is meant to reflect the vital tie between these two aspects of the
overall philosophical-anthropological enterprise. The collection will be of great interest to
philosophers and anthropologists alike and essential readingfor anyone interested in the
interconnections between the two disciplines.
