Claude Levi-Strauss

En el presente artículo se pretende analizar el posicionamiento de Levi Strauss, reciente Premi Internacional Catalunya 2005, en el seno del debate entre humanismo y antihumanismo. El estructuralismo de Levi Strauss supuso un desenmascaramiento de algunos presupuestos sobre los que se levantaba el humanismo. Al mismo tiempo, el estructuralismo respondía a un síntoma de nuevos tiempos, en dónde se intentaba pensar y actuar de otro modo. Los patrones clásicos y humanistas parecían estar agotados y la euforia estructuralista auguraba un nuevo (...) modo de filosofía. Contraponiendo los análisis de ‘Antropología estructural’ y ‘El pensamiento salvaje’ al humanismo ejemplificado por el Sartre de ‘Crítica a la Razón Dialéctica’, en este artículo se pretenden marcar los principales frentes de la batalla entre humanismo y antihumanismo. (shrink)

One is occasionally reminded of Foucault's proclamation in a 1970 interview that "perhaps, one day this century will be known as Deleuzian." Less often is one compelled to update and restart with a supplementary counter-proclamation of the mathematician, David Lindley: "the twenty-first century would be a Bayesian era..." The verb tenses of both are conspicuous. // To critically attend to what is today often feared and demonized, but also revered, deployed, and commonly referred to as algorithm(s), one cannot avoid the (...) mathematical and philosophical legacies of probability. // But attending to these probabilistic or Bayesian legacies must include an undeniable theological legacy in which they remain entangled. // We are not, today, discovering quirky theological metaphors in contemporary technics. It's the other way around. The technologies are mere metaphors of past theologies. (shrink)

This article reframes our understanding of French structural anthropology by considering the work of André Leroi-Gourhan alongside that of Claude Lévi-Strauss. These two anthropologists worked at opposite poles of the discipline, Lévi-Strauss studying cultural objects, like myths and kinship relations; Leroi-Gourhan looking at material artifacts, such as stone tools, bones, arrowheads, and cave paintings. In spite of their difference in focus, these thinkers shared a similar approach to the interpretation of their sources: Each individual object was meaningful only as part (...) of a larger whole. For Lévi-Strauss, structuralism was designed to unlock features of the human mind; for Leroi-Gourhan, to uncover the material processes that underlay human life. Again, in spite of their difference in orientation, both structuralisms produced similar theories of human society. Whether ‘primitive’ or ‘advanced’, all societies functioned the same way: Their institutions worked harmoniously, beyond the intentions of any individual actors, to preserve the stability of the group. This eliminated the basis for thinking one society was superior to another. Finally, the article argues that both Lévi-Strauss and Leroi-Gourhan believed that structural anthropology could found a ‘new humanism’, and thereby rescue modernity from moral degeneration. This ‘new humanism’ could not only produce a universal description of human nature, but also help rethink French colonialism, broker new geopolitical alliances, and prevent the erasure of world cultures. Structural anthropology thus imagined a tight relationship between its social-scientific work and its political-moral mission. (shrink)

Este artigo propõe pensar o método arqueológico de Michel Foucault, exposto em “As Palavras e as Coisas” e em “Arqueologia do Saber”, e como este se catalisa a partir da obra de Borges, relacionando-se intimamente com a Literatura. Para tal, analisar-se-á, primeiramente, algumas marcas epistemológicas e metodológicas de Foucault, tais com o estruturalismo e a hermenêutica, para, então, se retomar as passagens de Borges na obra do filósofo e se estabelecer as possíveis reverberações e impactos do autor argentino no método (...) arqueológico –marcando-se, assim, a importância dos operadores estético-literários no pensamento de Michel Foucault. (shrink)

Este ensaio parte de um movimento de transmutação das noções ocidentais-modernas de Natureza e Cultura. Utilizando-se de uma base nietzscheana como fio condutor, primeiramente, introduzir-se-á a transformação da noção de Natureza dentro do estruturalismo de Lévi-Strauss, assim como suas variações. Após isto, será mostrado dois exemplos contemporâneos que completarão a crítica ao pensamento moderno europeu ao mostrar: as teorias de Philippe Descola, especialmente suas ideias sobre as diversas ontologias, e Viveiros de Castro, no concerne à questão do perspectivismo ameríndio.

The article intends to demonstrate that, when building his science, Claude Lévi- Strauss abandons the categories used by the traditional studies of the myth and creates singular epistemological tools, suggested by the music, by the natural science and by the plastic arts. These tools, which we can denominate aesthetic operators, light up, in an exemplary way, the dissolution process that suffers the mythical matter when transforming in the time and in the space. When establishing that new form of thinking, the (...) myth, that reconciles the sensitive experience with the intelligible, Lévi-Strauss proposes to overcome the permanent dichotomy between knowing archaic and modern, between magical and scientific thought, between magic and Science. (shrink)

This article situates the emergence of cybernetic concepts in postwar French thought within a longer history of struggles surrounding the technocratic reform of French universities, including Marcel Mauss’s failed efforts to establish a large-scale centre for social-scientific research with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the intellectual and administrative endeavours of Claude Lévi-Strauss during the 1940s and 1950s, and the rise of communications research in connection with the Centre d’Études des Communications de Masse. Although semioticians and poststructuralists used cybernetic discourse critically (...) and ironically, I argue that their embrace of a ‘textocratic’ perspective – that is, a theory of power and epistemology as tied to technical inscription – sustained elements of the technocratic reasoning dating back to these 1920s efforts to reform French universities. (shrink)

Bricolage is a type of construction achieved by using whatever materials are at hand, or the act of creating something from a diverse range of available materials. More generally, bricolage essentially stands for do-it-yourself, and in the field of contemporary consumer studies it can be thought of a theoretical foundation of do-it-yourself (DIY) culture. The individual who practices bricolage is known as a bricoleur, and is regarded as a sort of Jack-of-all-trades.

Opposer des penseurs peut être vain ; l’ambition de les faire jouer l’un contre l’autre est futile lorsque le différend est tel qu’aucun enjeu commun ne conditionne le désaccord et que la confrontation se borne à comparer deux répertoires de propositions. Le projet est au contraire légitime lorsque l’opposition permet de mettre au jour des alternatives et des réorganisations conceptuelles et d’exposer...

Questa ricerca, attraverso alcune letture incrociate di Michel Foucault e di Claude Lévi-Strauss, mette in luce l’attualità di due grandi pensatori che pongono al centro delle loro teorie il tema della distanza, dell’altro da sé e del ritorno a sé per comprendere il ruolo del soggetto nella civiltà occidentale. Al di là delle rilevanti differenze che li contraddistinguono, Foucault e Lévi-Strauss percorrono due cammini teorici volti a decostruire il rapporto tra verità e soggetto nella civiltà occidentale adottando una prospettiva della (...) distanza e dell’allontanamento da sé, quali tecniche per comprendere se stessi. Da una parte il concetto foucaultiano di eterotopia, in quanto «spazio assolutamente altro», permette di comprendere i meccanismi attraverso i quali ci si proietta in un altrove senza luogo preciso per localizzare se stessi. Il campo dell’etnologia, sarà dunque letto attraverso la lente foucaultiana, quale «eterotopologia», o scienza eterotopica, per eccellenza. Dall’altra, questo concetto sarà analizzato alla luce di quello che Lévi-Strauss ha definito nel saggio sui Tre umanesimi una «tecnica dello straniamento», ovvero un metodo che permette di pensare se stessi grazie al confronto con l’Altro, con culture di altri luoghi ed altri tempi: per conoscere il soggetto che è l’uomo, non si può non prescindere da un lavoro di continui raffronti e paragoni tra diverse società nel tempo e nello spazio. (shrink)

Claude Lévi-Strauss holds that history and anthropology differ in their choice of complementary perspectives: history organizes its data in relation to conscious expressions of social life, while anthropology proceeds by examining its unconscious foundations. For R. G. Collingwood historical science discovers not only pure facts but considers a whole series of thoughts constituting historical life. Also Lévi-Strauss sees this: “To understand history it is necessary to know not only how things are, but how they have come to be.” However, Lévi-Strauss (...) does not perceive the double-sense of history, which can first be a record of historical “conscious” facts and second, a chain of unconscious or half-conscious acts. Like Lévi-Strauss, Charles Bally has derived the main theses of his theory from Saussure. However, contrary to Lévi-Strauss, Bally does not find structures at the inside of the phenomena but at their outside: “Our attention is drawn to the expressive side and not to the interior side of the facts of language.” Bally calls those structures not “history” but “style.” In Roland Barthes’s attempt to establish a structuralist system of fashion we can find a definition of style very similar to Bally’s. In the end, however, none of these thinkers addresses the fact that unconscious relations within historical life are constantly interlocked with conscious elements. (shrink)

El presente artículo aborda las relaciones entre el pensamiento estructuralista, especialmente la variante antropológica de éste en Lévi-Strauss y la teoría de sistemas sociales de Luhmann. El análisis se hace a través de dos hipótesis que guían el desarrollo del texto. Se revisan los antecedentes h..

Dans une lettre du 25 octobre 1971 à Werner Hofmann, l’interrogeant sur la proximité de sa pensée avec celle du philosophe Ernst Cassirer, Claude Lévi-Strauss se justifie ainsi : « J’ai très peu fréquenté l’œuvre de Cassirer et je ne crois donc pas avoir été influencé par elle. Mais il y a deux ans environ, j’ai pris connaissance d’un article de lui, publié en français dans le Journal de Psychologie,...

The paper examines Lévi-Strauss' criticisms of Sartre's conception of dialectical reason and history as presented in the last chapter of La Pensée Sauvage , suggesting that these criticisms are misplaced. Sartre's notion of reason and history in the Critique is much closer to structuralist accounts than Lévi-Strauss seems to recognize, but it differs in placing a strong emphasis on activity and praxis in place of the latter's passive conception of reason. The active role of the inquirer in structuralist thought is (...) examined using Roland Barthes' account of "The Structuralist Activity," which is shown to have important affinities with Sartre's own conception of the relation of structure and praxis in the Critique . I then briefly consider a modified conception of the role of history in structuralism expressed by Lévi-Strauss in the mid-seventies, suggesting that his altered position still fails to recognize the important role of praxis in structuralist accounts of history. I conclude by suggesting that Lévi-Strauss' criticisms are nonetheless important for illustrating the "Critical" character of Sartre's Critique. (shrink)

Lévi-Strauss's centennial is an opportunity to show his inextricable connections with the evolution of 20th-century thought and what these promise for 21st-century anthropology. He has mapped the philosophical parameters for a renewed ethnography which opens innovative approaches to history, agency, culture and society. The anthropological understanding of history, for instance, is enriched by methodical application of his mytho-logical analysis, in particular his claim that myths are `machines for the suppression of time'. Lévi-Strauss's thought has led to the development of new (...) and invigorated forms of structural analysis, exemplified by the way that his concept of canonical expression has provided the foundation for the sophisticated application of transformational analysis and formalization. (shrink)

Levi-Strauss, linguistics and structuralism -- Kinship as communication -- The illusion of totemism -- Myths without meaning -- Structuralism, shamanism, and material culture -- The structure of nostalgia -- Levi-Strauss and the study of religions.

The idea of dignity seems indissociable from that of humanity, whether in its universal dimension of ‘human dignity’, or in the individual ‘dignity of the person’. This paper provides an outlook on the ethics governing the sciences and technology, in particular the biological sciences and biotechnology, and recalls the notion of ‘glory’, both human and divine, as it infuses a great part of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance cultures, just before the scientific revolution in Europe.