Paul Rabinow

Anthropology American 1944 – 2021 101 quotes

Known for his work on the anthropology of science, particularly his engagement with Michel Foucault's ideas and studies of biotechnology.

Quotes by Paul Rabinow

The ethical life is a life of constant self-fashioning, a continuous effort to become who one is.

An Anthropology of the Contemporary: Questioning the Human 2003

Foucault teaches us that power is not just something that is exercised over us, but something that we also exercise on ourselves.

The Foucault Reader 1984

The contemporary is a field of emergent possibilities, a space for invention and transformation.

An Anthropology of the Contemporary: Questioning the Human 2003

The anthropologist must be a bridge-builder, connecting different worlds of meaning.

Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco 1977

The concept of 'human nature' is a cultural construct, not a biological given.

An Anthropology of the Contemporary: Questioning the Human 2003

The modern project is an unfinished project, always in motion, always open to revision.

Representations are Social Facts: Modernity and Post-Modernity in Anthropology 1986

The ethical task is to cultivate a critical awareness of the forces that shape our lives.

An Anthropology of the Contemporary: Questioning the Human 2003

Foucault's work is an invitation to think differently about ourselves and our world.

The Foucault Reader 1984

The contemporary is a time of both fragmentation and new forms of connection.

An Anthropology of the Contemporary: Questioning the Human 2003

The anthropologist's craft is to make visible the invisible structures of power and meaning.

Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco 1977

The human is a being that constantly questions its own limits and possibilities.

An Anthropology of the Contemporary: Questioning the Human 2003

Anthropology is not just about describing cultures; it's about understanding the power dynamics that shape them.

Book 1984

The fieldwork experience transforms the anthropologist as much as it reveals the other.

Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco 1977

Foucault taught us that truth is produced, not discovered.

The Foucault Reader 1986

In the laboratory, science is as much a social practice as a technical one.

Making PCR 1996

Ethics in anthropology demands reflexivity, not just objectivity.

Anthropos Today 2003

The modern self is a project, endlessly revised and negotiated.

Book 1984

Power is not held; it circulates through discourses and practices.

Interview 1978

To study the human is to engage with its fragility and resilience.

Book 2011

Colonialism lingers in the methods we still use today.

Essay 1989