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Minding experience: An exploration of the concept of “experience” in the early French anthropology of Durkheim, Lévy‐Bruhl, and Lévi‐Strauss
Author(s) -
Throop C. Jason
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/jhbs.10131
Subject(s) - contextualization , sociology , anthropology , epistemology , social anthropology , applied anthropology , sociocultural anthropology , philosophy , interpretation (philosophy) , linguistics
Abstract In line with the growing concern with the unexamined reliance upon the concept of “experience” inanthropology, this article explores in some detail the various usages and definitions of the concept in the workof three of early French anthropology's most influential theorists: Émile Durkheim(1858–1918), Lucien Lévy‐Bruhl (1857–1939), and ClaudeLévi‐Strauss (1908–). With its important influence on both British and Americananthropology, the early French anthropological tradition, as epitomized in the writings of these three thinkers,has indeed played a pivotal role in shaping many current taken‐for‐granted understandings of theconcept of experience in the discipline of anthropology as a whole. In the process of exploring how experienceis viewed by these three scholars, this paper will thus take some initial steps toward the historicalcontextualization of many of the unquestioned assumptions underpinning current understandings of experience inthe discipline of anthropology and the social sciences more generally. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.