So You Think You re Human?: A Brief History of Humankind

Felipe. Fernandez-Armesto

ISBN 10: 0199691282 / ISBN 13: 9780199691289

Published by Oxford University Press, 2012

About this Item

Taking us on a provocative journey through the history of humankind to reveal the challenges to our most fundamental belief, the author shows how our concept of humankind has changed over time. Num Pages: 220 pages, numerous halftones. BIC Classification: HP. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 132 x 12. Weight in Grams: 214. . 2012. New Ed. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780199691289

Bibliographic Details

• Title: So You Think You re Human?: A Brief History of Humankind
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199691282
• ISBN 13: 9780199691289
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

You think you're human. But what does that mean? How can humanity be defined? Felipe Fernandez-Armesto takes us on an enlightening journey through the history of humankind to reveal the challenges to our most fundamental belief - that we are, and have always been, human. Chimps and humans are objectively so alike that an anthropologist from Mars might classify them together; advances in artificial intelligence mean that humans no longer have exclusive access to reason, consciousness and imagination; developments in genetics threaten humanity with an uncertain future. The harder we cling to the concept of humanity, the more slippery it becomes. But if it breaks down altogether, what will this mean for human values, human rights, and the defence of human dignity? So You Think You're Human? confronts these problems from a historical perspective, showing how our current understanding of what it means to be human has been shaken by new challenges from science and philosophy. Fernandez-Armesto shows how our concept of humankind has changed over time, tracing its faltering expansion to its present limits and arguing that these limits are neither fixed or scientifically verifiable. Controversially, he proposes that we have further to go in developing our concept of humankind and that we need to rethink it as a matter of urgency.

About the Author

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is an internationally renowned best-selling history author and a highly successful radio and television broadcaster. He has won a number of prizes for his publications. Previous publications include Millennium: A History of our Last Thousand Years, Truth: A History, and Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature. He is currently Professor of Global Environmental History at Queen Mary, University of London.