Final answer:
Edward Burnett Tylor defined culture in anthropology as a complex whole encompassing a variety of human practices and achievements. His theory of unilineal cultural evolution has been largely abandoned due to its ethnocentric implications, favoring a more nuanced understanding of cultural development as unique to each society.
Step-by-step explanation:
British anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor is credited with one of the earliest definitions of culture within the field of anthropology. In his work, Primitive Culture published in 1873, Tylor provides a comprehensive definition of culture, detailing it 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." His conception of culture encapsulated a broad range of human activities and ideas.
Tylor proposed that culture evolved through three stages: from 'savagery,' through 'barbarism,' to 'civilization,' a process he saw as aligned with technological and social advances. This idea is part of what came to be known as unilineal cultural evolution, which indicated that all societies progress through the same stages of development. However, this theoretical framework has been largely abandoned due to its ethnocentric basis, which assumed a superior status for Western civilization and its technological advancements.
Overall, Tylor's work laid the groundwork for future studies in anthropology, though his theories have been critiqued and refined by subsequent anthropologists such as Franz Boas and his students, who emphasized the importance of historical particularism and the unique developmental trajectories of different cultures, as opposed to a single, linear progression.