Human Universals is a book by Donald Brown, an American professor of anthropology (emeritus) who worked at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It was published by McGraw Hill in 1991. The book is important because it makes a case for an alternative point of view to cultural relativism, which was the dominant approach in many social sciences in the late twentieth century. Brown says human universals, "comprise those features of culture, society, language, behavior, and psyche for which there are no known exception." 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.

Contents

• Preface
• Introduction
• Rethinking Universality: Six Cases Color Classification • Samoan Adolescence • Male and Female among the Tchambuli • Facial Expressions • Hopi Time • The Oedipus Complex Conclusion
• Conceptualizing, Defining, and Demonstrating Universals
• The Historical Context of the Study of Universals
• Explaining Universals Explaining a Universal with a Universal • Cultural Reflection or Recognition of Physical Fact • Logical Extension from (Usually Biological) Givens • Diffusionist Explanations that Rest upon the Great Age of the Universal and, Usually, Its Great Utility • Archoses • Conservation of Energy • The Nature of the Human Organism, with Emphasis on the Brain • Evolution Theory • Interspecific Comparison • Ontogeny • Partial Explanations
• Incest Avoidance
• The Universal People
• Universals, Human Nature, and Anthropology
• Bibliography
• Index

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