Science in the Forest, Science in the Past

Geoffrey E. R. Lloyd is professor emeritus of ancient philosophy and science at the University of Cambridge, where he was master of Darwin College from 1989 to 2000. He has published over thirty books, most recently Being, Humanity and Understanding and The Ambivalences of Rationality: Ancient and Modern Cross-Cultural Explorations. Aparecida Vilaça is professor of social anthropology at the National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She is the author of Strange Enemies: Indigenous Agency and Scenes of Encounters in Amazonia and Praying and Preying: Christianity in Indigenous Amazonia, among others.

"Is there one big Science, or are there many legitimate forms of knowledge? Are primary qualities the sole object of scientific inquiry, or is there a space for investigating the multidimensionality of phenomena? Are the ontological foundations of different systems of worlding incompatible, or do they allow hybridization and the expression of foundational principles? This innovative book tackles these questions afresh by bringing together an impressive set of international scholars in fields ranging from ancient civilizations and non-Western cultures to the computing sciences. Their deconstruction of the sterile deadlock between universalism and relativism will be a milestone for years to come."

• PrefaceGeoffrey E. R. Lloyd and Aparecida VilaçaAcknowledgmentsChapter 1. The Clash of Ontologies and the Problems of Translation and Mutual IntelligibilityGeoffrey E. R. LloydChapter 2. Inventing Nature: Christianity and Science in Indigenous AmazoniaAparecida VilaçaChapter 3. A Clash of Ontologies? Time, Law, and Science in Papua New GuineaMarilyn StrathernChapter 4. Mathematical Traditions in Ancient Greece and RomeSerafina CuomoChapter 5. Is there Mathematics in the Forest?Mauro William Barbosa de AlmeidaChapter 6. Different Clusters of Texts from Ancient China, Different Mathematical OntologiesKarine ChemlaChapter 7. Shedding Light on Diverse Cultures of Mathematical Practices in South Asia: Early Sanskrit Mathematical Texts in Conversation with Modern Elementary Tamil Mathematical Curricula (in Dialogue with Senthil Babu)Agathe KellerChapter 8. Antidomestication in the Amazon: Swidden and its FoesManuela Carneiro da CunhaChapter 9. Objective Functions: (In)humanity and Inequity in Artificial IntelligenceAlan BlackwellChapter 10. Modeling, Ontology, and Wild Thought: Toward an Anthropology of the Artificially IntelligentWillard McCartyChapter 11. Rhetorical Antinomies and Radical Othering: Recent Reflections on Responses to an Old Paper Concerning Human–Animal Relations in AmazoniaStephen Hugh-JonesChapter 12. Turning to Ontology in Studies of Distant SciencesNicholas JardineChapter 13. Epilogue: The Way AheadGeoffrey E. R. Lloyd and Aparecida Vilaça