The Life of Form

Anthropology, Wittgenstein, and the Problem of Context

Paolo Heywood (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

200 Seiten

2026
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-009-35659-6 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. April 2026)
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This book explores philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's influence on anthropological theory from the 1920s to today. Tracing the discipline's evolution from formal models of culture and society to celebrations of 'ordinary life', it reveals the hidden philosophical assumptions shaping modern anthropological practice.

What if anthropology's fundamental assumptions about cultural and social context were shaped by a philosopher many anthropologists have never engaged with? This book explores how, from the early twentieth century to the present day, anthropological ideas about context have been shaped by Ludwig Wittgenstein's evolving philosophy, often without anthropologists fully realizing it. It shows how Wittgenstein's philosophical journey mirrors anthropology's own theoretical transformations. Through careful analysis of key figures from Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown to Geertz and contemporary theorists, Paolo Heywood reveals unexpected connections between philosophical developments and anthropological practice. The result is a surprising genealogy of how we came to think about culture, society, and everyday life the way we do. This intellectual history illuminates the hidden philosophical assumptions that continue to shape anthropological work today. It reveals how disciplines are shaped by ideas they've forgotten they borrowed, and the surprising ways such ideas evolve in new contexts.

Paolo Heywood is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Durham University, UK. He is the author of two monographs (After Difference, 2018; Burying Mussolini, 2024) and the editor or co-editor of three edited volumes (Beyond Description, 2023; New Anthropologies of Italy, 2024; Freedoms of Speech, 2024).

Introduction: forms of progress; Part I. Logic: A Culture of Context: 1. In the background; 2. The gods of context; Part II. Language: Contexts in Question: 3. A gesture to anthropology; 4. A metaphysics of magic; Part III. Life: Contextual Aporetics: 5. Life without form; 6. Anthropology after Wittgenstein; Conclusion: The unanalysable facts of life; References; Index.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	30.4.2026
Reihe/Serie	New Departures in Anthropology
Zusatzinfo	Worked examples or Exercises
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Gewicht	500 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	1-009-35659-3 / 1009356593
ISBN-13	978-1-009-35659-6 / 9781009356596
Zustand	Neuware