Pasgaard-Westerman rethinks the ontological and epistemological understanding of world, other and self by opposing the general anthropological paradigm within contemporary philosophy. Signs and interpretations are not functions of Man; instead Man is conceived as certain "signo-interpretational" relations to world, other and self. Opposing more traditional hermeneutical approaches the signo-interpretational relations towards world, other and self are understood as a "skeptical disposition". This skeptical disposition undercuts usual epistemological problems of skepticism and instead designates the permanent incompleteness of the process of interpretation and formulates an ethical imperative. This ethical imperative aims at an active dissolution of fixed signs; an openness towards other signs; and the holding back of definite interpretations. The book discusses how world appear as a sign-world, how the other appear within interpretational patterns, and how our signs of self are experienced. Discussing a wide range of epistemological and ontological questions and taking into account the perspectives of a broad range of philosophical traditions, a signo-interpretational account of reality, world-versions, other persons and self is presented.

Pasgaard-Westerman offers an ontological and epistemological understanding of world, other, and self by opposing the general anthropological paradigm within contemporary philosophy. He discusses how world appears as a sign-world, how the other appea

Pasgaard-Westerman rethinks the ontological and epistemological understanding of world, other and self by opposing the general anthropological paradigm within contemporary philosophy. Signs and interpretations are not functions of Man; instead Man is conceived as certain "signo-interpretational" relations to world, other and self. Opposing more traditional hermeneutical approaches the signo-interpretational relations towards world, other and self are understood as a "skeptical disposition". This skeptical disposition undercuts usual epistemological problems of skepticism and instead designates the permanent incompleteness of the process of interpretation and formulates an ethical imperative. This ethical imperative aims at an active dissolution of fixed signs; an openness towards other signs; and the holding back of definite interpretations. The book discusses how world appear as a sign-world, how the other appear within interpretational patterns, and how our signs of self are experienced. Discussing a wide range of epistemological and ontological questions and taking into account the perspectives of a broad range of philosophical traditions, a signo-interpretational account of reality, world-versions, other persons and self is presented.

Can forests think? Do dogs dream? In this astonishing book, Eduardo Kohn challenges the very foundations of anthropology, calling into question our central assumptions about what it means to be humanÑand thus distinct from all other life forms. Based on four years of fieldwork among the Runa of EcuadorÕs Upper Amazon, Eduardo Kohn draws on his rich ethnography to explore how Amazonians interact with the many creatures that inhabit one of the worldÕs most complex ecosystems. Whether or not we recognize it, our anthropological tools hinge on those capacities that make us distinctly human. However, when we turn our ethnographic attention to how we relate to other kinds of beings, these tools (which have the effect of divorcing us from the rest of the world) break down. How Forests Think seizes on this breakdown as an opportunity. Avoiding reductionistic solutions, and without losing sight of how our lives and those of others are caught up in the moral webs we humans spin, this book skillfully fashions new kinds of conceptual tools from the strange and unexpected properties of the living world itself. In this groundbreaking work, Kohn takes anthropology in a new and exciting directionÐone that offers a more capacious way to think about the world we share with other kinds of beings.

In Geontologies Elizabeth A. Povinelli continues her project of mapping the current conditions of late liberalism by offering a bold retheorization of power. Finding Foucauldian biopolitics unable to adequately reveal contemporary mechanisms of power and governance, Povinelli describes a mode of power she calls geontopower, which operates through the regulation of the distinction between Life and Nonlife and the figures of the Desert, the Animist, and the Virus. Geontologies examines this formation of power from the perspective of Indigenous Australian maneuvers against the settler state. And it probes how our contemporary critical languages—anthropogenic climate change, plasticity, new materialism, antinormativity—often unwittingly transform their struggles against geontopower into a deeper entwinement within it. A woman who became a river, a snakelike entity who spawns the fog, plesiosaurus fossils and vast networks of rock weirs: in asking how these different forms of existence refuse incorporation into the vocabularies of Western theory Povinelli provides a revelatory new way to understand a form of power long self-evident in certain regimes of settler late liberalism but now becoming visible much further beyond.

The fifth edition of this bestselling reader builds a strong foundation in both classical and contemporary theory, with a sharpened focus on gender and anthropology, and the anthropology of new media and technology. Short introductions and key terms accompany every reading, and light annotations have been added to aid students in reading original articles. Used on its own or together with A History of Anthropological Theory, Fifth Edition, this anthology offers a flexible and unrivalled introduction to anthropological theory that reflects not only the history but also the changing nature of the discipline today.

The fifth edition of this bestselling reader builds a strong foundation in both classical and contemporary theory, with a sharpened focus on gender and anthropology, and the anthropology of new media and technology. Short introductions and key terms accompany every reading, and light annotations have been added to aid students in reading original articles. Used on its own or together with A History of Anthropological Theory, Fifth Edition, this anthology offers a flexible and unrivalled introduction to anthropological theory that reflects not only the history but also the changing nature of the discipline today.