Plough, sword, and book : the structure of human history / Ernest Gellner.
By: Gellner, Ernest.
Material type:
TextPublisher: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1990, c1988Edition: Pbk. ed.Description: 288 p. ; 23 cm.ISBN: 0226287025 (pbk.); 9780226287027 (pbk.); 0226287017; 9780226287010.Subject(s): History -- Philosophy | Historiography | AnthropologyDDC classification: 901 Summary: "British philosopher/anthropologist Gellner offers a comprehensive theory of history: humans settle into agriculture, produce surpluses, and divide into complex subgroups. Communication becomes pressing. Written language emerges as a controlling super-reality, bringing a Platonic illusion of an eternal world. Gradually, facts take precedence over concepts and "objective knowledge" is born. This scheme takes us from the tribal society to the Royal Society, but Gellner has not met all the challenges. There are still those who think that real knowledge is offered only by theology, or Platonic mathematical and logical reality, or a society free of class tension. And Franz Borkenau urged in End and Beginning (LJ 1/11/81) that all knowable reality is powerfully shaped by language. Thought-provoking but not conclusive."--Www.amazon (Nov. 8, 2010).
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SCHOOL OF KISWAHILI AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Welcome to School of Kiswahili and Foreign Langauages Library Nkurumah |
non fiction | 901 GEL (Browse shelf) | Available |
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"British philosopher/anthropologist Gellner offers a comprehensive theory of history: humans settle into agriculture, produce surpluses, and divide into complex subgroups. Communication becomes pressing. Written language emerges as a controlling super-reality, bringing a Platonic illusion of an eternal world. Gradually, facts take precedence over concepts and "objective knowledge" is born. This scheme takes us from the tribal society to the Royal Society, but Gellner has not met all the challenges. There are still those who think that real knowledge is offered only by theology, or Platonic mathematical and logical reality, or a society free of class tension. And Franz Borkenau urged in End and Beginning (LJ 1/11/81) that all knowable reality is powerfully shaped by language. Thought-provoking but not conclusive."--Www.amazon (Nov. 8, 2010).
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