Philippe Descola
French anthropologist who compared ontologies in Amazonian societies beyond nature-culture dualism.
Most quoted
"Perspectivism is the idea that different beings perceive the world from their own unique point of view, but that these perspectives are mutually intelligible."
— from Par-delà nature et culture, 2005
"The human condition is not defined by a universal essence, but by the diversity of ways in which humans relate to their environment and to other beings."
— from L'écologie des autres, 2013
"The Amazonian forest is not just a collection of trees and animals; it is a complex web of relations between different kinds of beings."
— from La Nature domestique, 1986
All quotes by Philippe Descola (103)
Interview: Life's meaning? In the bridges we build between worlds.
Comeback: Your critique assumes naturalism; mine assumes none.
Artistic: The Amazon's narratives are symphonies of human-nonhuman chorus.
Contemporaries of Philippe Descola
Other Anthropologys born within 50 years of Philippe Descola (1949).