What is the importance of Anthropology?

Question

What is the importance of Anthropology?

Answer 1

knowing ones history. having knowledge of what was in our past helps growth of the future. understanding of human life.

Answer 2

It is of not the slightest importance,  we have it all asre about face and are heading in the single cell direction.

Answer 3

Different people would probably answer this question differently, but I think the importance of anthropology is that it teaches us how to look outside of ourselves and realize that what we think and what we believe are not the only ways to think and believe.  Anthropology is the only social science that really emphasizes the comparative approach or comparing things across different cultures.  This shows us that a lot of our perceptions of the world are controlled by our experiences with the world.  Because no one individual or culture can experience everything, our perceptions and understandings are limited.  When we look at other peoples experiences, perceptions, and understandings our knowledge becomes greater and our understanding of how things work, how we work, becomes much more vast.  While I think this is the most important thing about anthropology, it is also why things in anthropology make so many people uncomfortable.