The Wrong Question?

Philosophies

article

Michael Lambek¹ 

[1] Anthropology Department, University of Toronto

关键词: intelligibility;    rationality;    ethnography;    anthropology;    hermeneutics;    category mistakes;    Gadamer;    Geertz;    Evans-Pritchard;    Diamond;   

DOI  :  10.3390/philosophies8020038

学科分类：内科医学

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The Wrong Question? is the response by an anthropologist to a question posed by a philosopher concerning the intelligibility of alien forms of thought. I argue that it is wrong to describe the problem of intelligibility as one of logic or rationality. Indeed, foreign practices (no less than our own) may become intelligible only once they are not evaluated according to abstract criteria of rationality. To ask of a given practice or form of life whether it is rational is an error of grammar (nonsense) in Wittgenstein’s sense. I describe how intelligibility emerges over the course of ethnographic fieldwork but also argue that we must work on our own concepts in order to make foreign ones intelligible. The response draws from both Gadamer and Wittgenstein as well as anthropologists Geertz, Evans-Pritchard, and Lévi-Strauss. Following Cora Diamond, I suggest further that the ethical and rational dimensions of understanding another are indissociable.

【 授权许可】

CC BY