Claude Lévi StraussThinkers

The Anthropologist (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an amputated man: One who, having been separated from his own group for long times feels 'at home' anywhere and suffers a chronic uprootedness.

The Anthropologist (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠spent a considerable amount of money and time, and compromised his health for the purpose of having his presence forgiven by a handful of wretched people whose main occupations are sleeping and picking their lice.

The Anthropologist (n.) often ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠suffers the contradiction of being a ready conformist elsewhere and a staunch critic at home. It is a contradiction that will be resolved once it is taken for granted that, even at home, the anthropologist's business should be to know, not to pass judgement.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a discipline grounded in the presumption that ours is not the only possible way to live, and that other ways have allowed and still allow groups of men to find happiness. Anthropology invites us to temper our pride, to respect other life styles.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a discipline in which experimentation precedes observation and hypothesis.

Anthropology (n.) examines ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠economics, law, and political science (disciplines that are close to us and so of interest) in their most distant manifestations, or from the angle of their most general expressions.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a kind of necrology which illuminates the whole Lucretian project of a detached, impassive rationality, suggesting an intimate link between all such projects and a certain relationship to, a certain conception of the dead.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a reconstitution of meaning by mechanical means. The anthropologist constructs it, unwraps it. And then, after all, he is a man, so he tastes it.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a science in which, to both our benefit and inconvenience, our experiments are already prepared but ungovernable.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an institutionalization of the purpose of Rousseau... namely to utter the losses of all modernity's victims and to deny the instrumental success of the west their privilege.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an intensely personal kind of intellectual discipline, like psychoanalysis.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠tasked to not abandon research and become an applied science dealing with the problems of developing countries and the pathological aspects of our own society.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠tasked to to contribute to a better knowledge of objectified thought and its mechanisms. It makes no difference if the thought processes of those studied takes shape through the anthropologist's thought or if the anthropologist's thought takes shape through theirs. It is doubtless a doubly reflexive forward movement of the two.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the lone social science capable to aspire to generality.

Anthropology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the study of various images of ourselves which are disappearing forever.