Misanthropology: Science, Pseudoscience, and the Study of Humanity

Misanthropology: Science, Pseudoscience, and the Study of Humanity introduces students to key concepts in critical thinking across the four core branches of anthropology: cultural, linguistic, biological, and archaeological. It combines a critical analysis of anthropology as a field with current concepts in scientific skepticism.

By deconstructing a range of global case studies in which anthropological research runs aground, the book teaches students to distinguish between legitimate science and pseudoscience. It covers key concepts in critical thinking and rigorous research, such as cognitive biases and logical fallacies, data collection and consensus, probabilistic thinking, as well as political, nationalist, racist biases. Students learn not only how to apply these concepts to anthropological research and fieldwork, but also to their consumption of everyday information.

This book will appeal to anthropology students and will be particularly useful for instructors of introductory anthropology courses, as well as instructors of courses across the humanities and social sciences focused on inculcating critical thinking skills.

Sean M. Rafferty is Associate Professor of Anthropology at University at Albany, SUNY, USA

1: Bias and Fallacy in Anthropology and Beyond; 2: Cultural Anthropology and the Invented Primitive; 3: Ethnology vs. Pseudoethnology; 4: Apes and Sign Language: Another "Clever Hans"?; 5: Pseudolinguistics; 6: Biological Anthropology and Pseudoscience: The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis; 7: Pseudoarchaeology and Ancient Aliens; 8: Archaeology as the Handmaiden of Ideology; 9: Science, Pseudoscience, and Anthropology