Edward Tylor: Early Life and Influences

Edward Burnett Tylor: Early Life and Education

• Edward Burnett Tylor was born on October 2, 1832, in Camberwell, London.
• He came from a wealthy Quaker family.
• His father, Joseph Tylor, was a brass founder and a figure in the Quaker community.
• Tylor's parents were Joseph Tylor and Harriet Skipper.
• Due to his Quaker upbringing, Tylor's formal education differed from the standard path of the time.
• He did not attend a traditional university like Oxford or Cambridge because they were then only open to members of the Church of England.
• Instead, he attended Grove House School, a Quaker institution in Tottenham.
• At Grove House School, the curriculum emphasized science, modern languages, and mathematics, reflecting Quaker values.
• He later entered his father’s business, but his health declined, leading him to seek a change of environment.

Travel and Early Anthropological Influences

• In 1855, Tylor embarked on a trip to Cuba for health reasons; this trip proved pivotal in shaping his anthropological interests.
• While in Cuba, he met Henry Christy, an archaeologist and ethnologist.
• Christy greatly influenced Tylor, sparking his interest in the study of human societies and cultures.
• Together, Tylor and Christy traveled to Mexico in 1856.
• The observations and collections made during this expedition formed the basis for Tylor's early works.
• His experiences in the Americas led him to develop an interest in the evolution of culture and the comparative study of societies.

Key Publications and Contributions

• Tylor is best known for his book "Primitive Culture," published in 1871.
• In "Primitive Culture," Tylor put forth his definition of culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society".
• This definition became foundational in anthropology.
• He also introduced the concept of "survivals," which are customs, beliefs, and practices that have lost their original function but persist in society as habits.
• Tylor argued that these survivals provide insights into earlier stages of cultural evolution.
• Another significant publication was "Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization" (1865), where he explored cultural evolution through comparative methods.
• In this work, Tylor examined various aspects of human culture, including language, mythology, and religion, to trace the development of civilization.

Theory of Cultural Evolution

• Tylor was a proponent of unilineal cultural evolution.
• This theory posits that all societies progress through the same stages of development, from savagery to barbarism to civilization.
• He believed that by studying different cultures, one could trace the trajectory of human progress.
• Tylor used the comparative method to analyze cultural phenomena from around the world.
• He sought to identify patterns and similarities that would support his evolutionary framework.
• Tylor’s evolutionary approach was influenced by Darwin's theory of biological evolution.
• However, Tylor applied evolutionary principles to the development of culture rather than biology.

Animism and the Evolution of Religion

• Tylor developed the theory of animism, which he considered to be the earliest form of religion.
• Animism is the belief that spirits inhabit natural objects and phenomena.
• Tylor argued that animism arose from early humans' attempts to explain phenomena such as dreams and death.
• He believed that the concept of the soul or spirit was central to animistic beliefs.
• According to Tylor, as societies evolved, animism gave rise to polytheism (belief in multiple gods) and, eventually, monotheism (belief in one god).
• Tylor’s work on animism influenced subsequent theories about the origins and development of religion.

Academic Career and Recognition

• In 1883, Tylor became Reader in Anthropology at the University of Oxford.
• This was one of the first formal academic positions in anthropology in Britain.
• In 1896, he was appointed as the first Professor of Anthropology at Oxford.
• Tylor was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1871.
• He received honorary degrees from several universities and was recognized for his contributions to the field of anthropology.
• Tylor’s academic career helped to institutionalize anthropology as a recognized discipline.

Influence and Legacy

• Tylor’s work had a profound influence on the development of anthropology as a scientific discipline.
• His definition of culture remains a cornerstone of anthropological theory.
• Tylor’s evolutionary approach was later critiqued for being overly simplistic and ethnocentric.
• Critics argued that his unilineal model did not account for the diversity and complexity of cultural change.
• Despite these criticisms, Tylor’s work laid the foundation for future anthropological research.
• His emphasis on the comparative method and the study of cultural universals continues to be relevant in contemporary anthropology.

Later Life and Death

• Edward Burnett Tylor retired from his position at Oxford in 1909.
• He continued to write and engage with anthropological ideas in his retirement.
• Tylor died on January 2, 1917, in Wellington, Somerset.
• His contributions to anthropology were widely recognized during his lifetime and continue to be acknowledged in the field.