Anthropology is the scientific study of humans, human behavior, and human societies, both past and present. The term comes from the Greek words anthropos ("human") and logos ("study" or "knowledge").
It is distinctive among the social sciences for its holistic and comparative approach—seeking to understand the full range of human experience across all times and places.
Anthropology is often divided into four main subfields:
- Cultural (or social) anthropology – Studies human cultures, beliefs, practices, and social organization, often through fieldwork and participant observation.
- Biological (or physical) anthropology – Examines human evolution, genetics, primatology, and biological variation among populations.
- Archaeology – Reconstructs past human societies through material remains such as tools, structures, and artifacts.
- Linguistic anthropology – Explores language as a cultural and social phenomenon, including how language shapes and reflects thought and identity.
In short, anthropology asks what it means to be human— ontologically, biologically, culturally, historically, linguistically, and epistemically.