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Through a dialogue between a philosopher and an anthropologist, one a specialist in ancient Greek and Chinese thought, the other in Amazonian Indigenous peoples, Geoffrey Lloyd and Aparecida Vilaça revise our understanding of beliefs and behaviours considered counter-intuitive in the Western world. These include ideas about the body and its antitheses, dreams, sickness, gods and the narratives and myths which are used to untangle these concepts. What is distinctive about the approach adopted here is that it poses radical questions about the nature of the problems themselves. This turns the study into a resource for the revision of many of our own current presuppositions.
“This dialogue between a classical philosopher and an Amazonian anthropologist is remarkable. In exploring and contrasting ancient Greek philosophical and indigenous Amazonian conceptions of themselves and their worlds, it addresses fundamental questions about human perception and understanding of bodies and souls, dreams and myths, ways of life and death.” • Nicholas Jardine, University of Cambridge
“I have the highest opinion of this work. It takes a common problem of anthropologists and historians alike, namely radical otherness, and subjects it to a rigorous examination in terms of specific themes in ancient and non-Western systems of knowledge and knowing. It takes us far beyond “psychic unity” to a more layered and reflective exposition about the human experience.” • Francesca Rochberg, University of California
Geoffrey Lloyd is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He specialises in classical philosophy, with a particular interest in the comparative study of ancient Greek and Chinese philosophical systems. Among his most notable publications are Ancient Worlds, Modern Reflections (2004), Being, Humanity, and Understanding (2012) and Expanding Horizons in the History of Science (2021).
Preface
Chapter 1. How Do We Know?
Chapter 2. What Is a Body and What Is Its Antitheses?
Chapter 3. What Is It to Dream?
Chapter 4. Are There People Without Gods?
Chapter 5. What Is It to Be Sick?
Chapter 6. Can We Do without Myth?
Epilogue in Guise of a Conclusion: A Plea for Metalogues
Reference List
Index