Anthropology is holistic in including the study of humans as both Essay

Anthropology is holistic in including the study of humans as both biological organisms and as cultural of social organisms - Essay Example Right from its definition, anthropology describes the study of all spheres of humankind. Anthropology studies the overall human society by examining the broad vista of the human life right from the origin of mankind to the modern forms of life taking into consideration various salient features such as the variations in cultural disposition in different societies around the world as well as the entire man’s social life. In addressing the complex human life, anthropology explores the corners of the entire block by dividing the human society into four main blocks which include: the human politics, the socioeconomic configuration of the human society, the religious perspectives in the diverse human life and the aspect of the general ideology in man. This gives a holistic perspective in elaborating the entire panorama in understanding man in his changing interrelationships with each other as well as with the surrounding environment. Besides, anthropology studies the contemporary so ciety by paying a keen visit to the man’s past or history and evolutionary processes further giving it a holistic approach in relating man’s past with the present in order to come up with an all round description of the human society giving it a better understanding in a chronological manner (Washburn). In dealing with the human society, anthropology views the society in two main perspectives: man’s biological environments as well as his cultural environments. The biological anthropology deals with the study of human origins from a biological point of view while the cultural anthropology studies man’s cultural backgrounds usually along a historical path. Biological anthropology as a sub branch of anthropology, deals with the study of the corporeal growth in human genus hence playing a very crucial role in the learning of human beginnings as well as in the identification and classification of human fossils to reconstruct the theory of man’s evolutio n from a scientific point of view. It borrows more from the human body capacity (anthropometrics), human genetics as well as from human osteology. Besides, anthropology helps in categorizing man and other primates based on the study of their brain evolution and development over time in order to come up with a chronological account in reconstructing the changes in human society (Marks). Moreover, biomedical anthropology as a sub branch of anthropology has also contributed immensely in the anthropological exploration of the biological world in relation to the medical field. Even though this is mainly well developed in the United States where biomedical anthropology holds a higher rank, the sub discipline adequately helps in relating medicine and anthropology by incorporating ideas and knowledge from the biological and medical anthropology sub-disciplines. Thus, it can be strongly argued that biomedical anthropology has contributed in improving medical and biomedical sciences through t he holistic integration of the cross- cultural, behavioural and epidemiological points of view on health related matters. As an academic discipline therefore, biomedical anthropology has been closely related to human biology. Biology can also be closely linked to the typological studies in anthropology. Typology in anthropology deals with the categorization of the human kind based on the physical traits possessed by each person. These include those traits that can be readily