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Edward Westermarck  

Definition

  • Edward Westermarck, the Swedo-Finnish moral philosopher and comparative sociologist who held the first chair in anthropology at the London School of Economics (from 1907), is generally known for two things that have been normally kept apart but are increasingly brought together. First, he provided theoretical arguments for moral relativism, which spurred greater open-mindedness toward the customs of nonWestern cultures, as well as anticipated logical positivist analyses of ethics as the expression of emotion toward people and objects. [Source: Encyclopedia of Law & Society: American and Global Perspectives; Westermarck, Edward (1862–1939)]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/Edward_Westermarck

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