Philippe Descola is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the Collège de France and Director of Studies at EHESS, Paris.

"Charbonnier's questions have engendered exquisite insights into the essence of Descola's anthropology. A very welcome translation reveals the prescience with which, long ago, this eminent thinker scaled up his concerns to address some of today's most urgent problems."Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge"What a privilege, to accompany this brilliant anthropologist as he develops and reflects on his meta-ontology against the background of the ethnographic vocation, the Amazonian forest, structuralism, and the distinctiveness of anthropology in France! An instant classic, this exceptionally lucid work will be indispensable for teaching."Michael Lambek, University of Toronto"Much more than an intellectual biography, the book provides an example for all academics in the social sciences and environmental humanities who dream of having a wider impact without selling their soul."History of Anthropology"Will be of great interest to sociologists of knowledge and historians of ideas."American Ethnologist"Greatly rewarding on a number of levels"The Australian Journal of Anthropology

• Foreword to the English editionI. A taste for inquiryPhilosophical journeys                                           Discovering the mind, discovering the world                                 Among the tribe of anthropologists                                     Entering the pantheonII. An Amazonian sojourn and the challenges of ethnographyThe world of the forest                                          Living and working among the Achuar                                    The trial of return                                                   III. The diversity of natures                                              The four corners of the world                                              Methodological questions                                              Conceptual reform                                                Forms of figurationIV. The contemporary world in the light of anthropologyWe Moderns                                                 From anthropology to ecology                                     Political anthropology                                      The museum                                                   BibliographyNotesIndex

Philippe Descola is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the Collège de France and Director of Studies at EHESS, Paris.

"Charbonnier's questions have engendered exquisite insights into the essence of Descola's anthropology. A very welcome translation reveals the prescience with which, long ago, this eminent thinker scaled up his concerns to address some of today's most urgent problems."Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge"What a privilege, to accompany this brilliant anthropologist as he develops and reflects on his meta-ontology against the background of the ethnographic vocation, the Amazonian forest, structuralism, and the distinctiveness of anthropology in France! An instant classic, this exceptionally lucid work will be indispensable for teaching."Michael Lambek, University of Toronto"Much more than an intellectual biography, the book provides an example for all academics in the social sciences and environmental humanities who dream of having a wider impact without selling their soul."History of Anthropology"Will be of great interest to sociologists of knowledge and historians of ideas."American Ethnologist"Greatly rewarding on a number of levels"The Australian Journal of Anthropology

• Foreword to the English editionI. A taste for inquiryPhilosophical journeys                                           Discovering the mind, discovering the world                                 Among the tribe of anthropologists                                     Entering the pantheonII. An Amazonian sojourn and the challenges of ethnographyThe world of the forest                                          Living and working among the Achuar                                    The trial of return                                                   III. The diversity of natures                                              The four corners of the world                                              Methodological questions                                              Conceptual reform                                                Forms of figurationIV. The contemporary world in the light of anthropologyWe Moderns                                                 From anthropology to ecology                                     Political anthropology                                      The museum                                                   BibliographyNotesIndex