Theoretical Anthropology or How to Observe a Human Being

It may seem obvious that the human being has always been present in anthropology. This book, however, reveals that he has never really been a part of it.

Theoretical Anthropology or How to Observe a Human Being establishes the foundations and conditions, both theoretical and methodological, which make it possible to consider the human being as a topic of observation and analysis, for himself as an entity, and not in the perspective of understanding social and cultural phenomena.

In debate with both anthropologists and philosophers, this book describes and analyzes the human being as a 'volume'. To this end, a specific lexicon is built around the notions of volume, volumography and volumology. These notions are further illustrated and enriched by several drawings.

Albert Piette is Professor of Anthropology at Paris Nanterre University in France and a researcher at the Centre for Ethnology and Comparative Sociology (CNRS). He is the author of several books on the epistemology of the social sciences, ritual or religious phenomena, existence and the human specificity.