The Subject of Virtue
An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom
New Departures in Anthropology Series

The anthropology of ethics has become an important and fast-growing field in recent years. This book argues that it represents not just a new subfield within anthropology but a conceptual renewal of the discipline as a whole, enabling it to take account of a major dimension of human conduct which social theory has so far failed adequately to address. An ideal introduction for students and researchers in anthropology and related human sciences. ? Shows how ethical concepts such as virtue, character, freedom and responsibility may be incorporated into anthropological analysis ? Surveys the history of anthropology's engagement with morality ? Examines the relevance for anthropology of two major philosophical approaches to moral life.

1. Beyond the science of unfreedom; 2. Virtue ethics: philosophy with an ethnographic stance?; 3. Foucault's genealogy and the undefined work of freedom; 4. The 'question of freedom' in anthropology; 5. Taking responsibility seriously; 6. Endnote: the reluctant cannibal.

James Laidlaw is Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology and Fellow of King's College at the University of Cambridge.