Tesis para una crítica de la singularidad cultural es el resultado de una doble indagación sobre la historia y las vicisitudes de la dicotomía emic/etic y sobre el peso relativo de los métodos hermenéuticos, explicativos y críticos en la antropología social y cultural. . Las conclusiones son paralelas. La dicotomía emic/etic, en el sentido que a través de Harris se ha impuesto en antropología, es insostenible por la misma razón que en la descripción densa de Geertz interpretación y explicación teórica son indisociables o que la ciencia social interpretativa de Taylor no puede alcanzar sus objetivos críticos sin el recurso a la explicación teórica. La antropología debe conjugar la crítica del bagaje conceptual que le sirve de punto de partida con el establecimiento de relaciones entre causas, motivos y significados, para construir las estructuras socioculturales que constituyen las etnografías. Establecer el alcance de estas estructuras es objeto de la comparación transcultural.

CONTENIDO: A modo de introducción (genética). Conceptos descriptivos, conceptos interpretativos y conceptos teóricos - La antropología científica clásica y su crítica - Huis Clos (de la atribución de significado) - Proyectos interpretativos para la antropología - El conocimiento científico, su complejidad y sus límites - Interpretaciones, explicaciones teóricas y críticas - La sociología del conocimiento al estudio sociocultural de la ciencia - Interpretaciones, explicaciones teóricas y críticas socioculturales - Tesis para una crítica de la singularidad cultural.

A Deleuzian reading of Whitehead and a Whiteheadian reading of Deleuze open the possibility of a critical aesthetics of contemporary culture. In Without Criteria, Steven Shaviro proposes and explores a philosophical fantasy: imagine a world in which Alfred North Whitehead takes the place of Martin Heidegger. What if Whitehead, instead of Heidegger, had set the agenda for postmodern thought? Heidegger asks, “Why is there something, rather than nothing?” Whitehead asks, “How is it that there is always something new?” In a world where everything from popular music to DNA is being sampled and recombined, argues Shaviro, Whitehead's question is the truly urgent one. Without Criteria is Shaviro's experiment in rethinking postmodern theory, especially the theory of aesthetics, from a point of view that hearkens back to Whitehead rather than Heidegger. In working through the ideas of Whitehead and Deleuze, Shaviro also appeals to Kant, arguing that certain aspects of Kant's thought pave the way for the philosophical “constructivism” embraced by both Whitehead and Deleuze. Kant, Whitehead, and Deleuze are not commonly grouped together, but the juxtaposition of them in Without Criteria helps to shed light on a variety of issues that are of concern to contemporary art and media practices.

Forty years after Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, and Gay Talese launched the New Journalism movement, Robert S. Boynton sits down with nineteen practitioners of what he calls the New New Journalism to discuss their methods, writings and careers. The New New Journalists are first and foremost brilliant reporters who immerse themselves completely in their subjects. Jon Krakauer accompanies a mountaineering expedition to Everest. Ted Conover works for nearly a year as a prison guard. Susan Orlean follows orchid fanciers to reveal an obsessive subculture few knew existed. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc spends nearly a decade reporting on a family in the South Bronx. And like their muckraking early twentieth-century precursors, they are drawn to the most pressing issues of the day: Alex Kotlowitz, Leon Dash, and William Finnegan to race and class; Ron Rosenbaum to the problem of evil; Michael Lewis to boom-and-bust economies; Richard Ben Cramer to the nitty gritty of politics. How do they do it? In these interviews, they reveal the techniques and inspirations behind their acclaimed works, from their felt-tip pens, tape recorders, long car rides, and assumed identities; to their intimate understanding of the way a truly great story unfolds. Interviews with: Gay Talese Jane Kramer Calvin Trillin Richard Ben Cramer Ted Conover Alex Kotlowitz Richard Preston William Langewiesche Eric Schlosser Leon Dash William Finnegan Jonathan Harr Jon Krakauer Adrian Nicole LeBlanc Michael Lewis Susan Orlean Ron Rosenbaum Lawrence Weschler Lawrence Wright