Philippe Descola

Philippe Descola, FBA (; born 19 June 1949) is a French anthropologist noted for studies of the Achuar, one of several Jivaroan peoples, and for his contributions to anthropological theory.

Background Descola first graduated in philosophy at the École normale supérieure de Lyon and later turned to anthropology, and became a student of Claude Lévi-Strauss (who had followed the same academic path).

His ethnographic studies in the Amazon region of Ecuador began in 1976 and were funded by CNRS. He lived with the Achuar from 1976 to 1978. His reputation largely arises from these studies.

Academic career As a professor, he has been invited several times to the Universities of São Paulo, Beijing, Chicago, Montreal, London School of Economics, Cambridge, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Gothenburg, Uppsala and Leuven. He has given lectures in over forty universities and academic institutions abroad, including the Beatrice Blackwood Lecture at Oxford, the George Lurcy Lecture at Chicago, the Munro Lecture at Edinburgh, the Radcliffe-Brown Lecture at the British Academy, the Clifford Geertz Memorial Lecture at Princeton, the Jensen Lecture at Frankfurt and the Victor Goldschmidt Lecture at Heidelberg. He has chaired the Société des Américanistes since 2002 and the scientific committee of the Fondation Fyssen from 2001 to 2009, as well as holding memberships in many other scientific committees. He has also be elected Honorary fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and received in 2015 the honoris causa doctorate from the University of Montreal, Canada. From 2000 to 2019, he was chair of anthropology at the Collège de France.

Published works From his 2005 book Beyond Nature and Culture he has turned towards a more theoretical anthropology, reviving his philosophical studies to propose a new anthropological epistemology, influenced by the sociological work of his friend Bruno Latour. This new and controversial trend has been dubbed the "narrow ontological turn",Marshall Sahlins, « https://www.haujournal.org/index.php/hau/article/view/hau4.1.013 On the ontological scheme of Beyond nature and culture] », HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory Volume 4, n°1, 2014. and has been the subject of a fashion effect between 2014 and 2017, particularly in France.

In his book Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle, Descola documents and explains the culture of the Achuar in terms of cosmology and metaphysics. He "parses out the subtleties of Achuar cosmology and metaphysics but also treats the mores and manners of everyday life -- like the etiquette of drinking manioc beer when visiting -- with empathy and a keen eye." With attention to the minutest detail, the book focuses on one of hundreds of distinct Indigenous societies in the Amazon, the biological diversity of the tropical forest where they live, and the interdependence between the Achuar society and its natural environment, thus stressing the critical point that what happens to one aspect affects the whole. Moreover, this book aligns with a key insight from his overarching theory, emphasized in later works, in particular Beyond Nature and Culture, that challenges Western notions of neutrality between culture and nature.

Personal life His wife, Anne-Christine Taylor, is an ethnologist, specialist of Amazonian peoples.

Distinctions 1996: CNRS Silver medal 1997: Knight of the French Order of Academic Palms 2004: French National Order of Merit 2006: Foreign Honorary Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2010: Elected as corresponding fellow of the British Academy 2010: Officer in the French Legion of Honor 2011: Édouard Bonnefous Prize from Academy of Moral and Political Sciences 2012: CNRS Gold MedalPhilippe Descola, “Prof. Philippe Descola: Winner of the 2012 CNRS Golden Medal”, La lettre du Collège de France [Online], 7 | 2015, Online since 29 October 2015, connection on 05 June 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/lettre-cdf/2599; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/lettre-cdf.2599 2014: International Cosmos Prize 2016: Commander in the French Legion of HonorLegion of Honor website 2022: Winner of the Principality Prize in Monaco, presented for lifetime achievements and entire body of work by Les Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco & the Prince Pierre Foundation.

English-translated bibliography (partial)

Titles in French Les Formes du visible, Paris:Seuil, 2021, Par-delà nature et culture, Paris:Gallimard, 2005, Le Sport est-il un jeu ?, Paris:Robert Laffont, 2022, Cultures, Paris:PUF, 2017, Étre au monde, Presses universitaires de Lyon, 2014, La composition des mondes, Les Grandes Civilisations,

Philippe Descola

Bron en licentie