Donald Brown
Encyclopedia
Donald E. Brown is an American
professor of anthropology
(emeritus
). He worked at the University of California, Santa Barbara
. He is best known for his theoretical work regarding the existence, characteristics and relevance of universals of human nature. In his best known work, Human Universals
, he says these universals, "comprise those features of culture, society, language, behavior, and psyche for which there are no known exceptions." He is quoted at length by Steven Pinker
in an appendix to The Blank Slate
, where Pinker cites some of the hundreds of universals listed by Brown. In area studies his doctoral research on the structure and history of Brunei was foundational.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professor of anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
(emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
). He worked at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
. He is best known for his theoretical work regarding the existence, characteristics and relevance of universals of human nature. In his best known work, Human Universals
Human Universals
Human Universals is a book by Donald Brown, an American professor of anthropology who worked at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It was published by McGraw Hill in 1991...
, he says these universals, "comprise those features of culture, society, language, behavior, and psyche for which there are no known exceptions." He is quoted at length by Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
in an appendix to The Blank Slate
The Blank Slate
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature is a best-selling 2002 book by Steven Pinker arguing against tabula rasa models of the social sciences. Pinker argues that human behavior is substantially shaped by evolutionary psychological adaptations...
, where Pinker cites some of the hundreds of universals listed by Brown. In area studies his doctoral research on the structure and history of Brunei was foundational.
Books
Brunei: The Structure and History of Bornean Malay Sultanate. Brunei Museum, 1970.- Hierarchy, History, and Human Nature: The Social Origins of Historical Consciousness. University of Arizona PressUniversity of Arizona PressThe University of Arizona Press, a publishing house founded in 1959 as a department of the University of Arizona, is a nonprofit publisher of scholarly and regional books...
, 1988. - Human Universals. New York: McGraw-HillMcGraw-HillThe McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
, 1991.
Articles
- 'Human Nature and History'. History and Theory 38 (1999): 138-157.
- 'Human Universals and their Implications'. In N. Roughley (ed.), Being humans: Anthropological Universality and Particularity in Transdisplinary Perspectives. New York: Walter de GruyterWalter de GruyterWalter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG is a scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. Its origins date back to 1749 when it was given the right to print books by King Frederick II of Prussia. -De Gruyter Mouton:...
, 2000. - 'Human Universals, Human Nature & Human Culture'. Daedalus 133 (2004): 4, 47.
Encyclopedia entries
- 'Human Universals'. In Robert A. Wilson and Frank C. Keil (eds). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT PressMIT PressThe MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts .-History:...
, 1999.
Reviews
- Christopher Boehm. 'Human Universals: Donald E. Brown'. American Anthropologist 94 (1992): 742-743.
- Walter J. Lonner. 'Human Universals: Donald E. Brown'. American Ethnologist 21 (1994): 920-921.