Skip to product information
1 of 1

Primitive Man as Philosopher

Primitive Man as Philosopher

by Paul Radin, preface by Neni Panourgia, foreword by John Dewey

Regular price $19.95
Regular price $0.00 Sale price $19.95
Format

Anthropology is a science whose most significant discoveries have come when it has taken its bearings from literature, and what makes Paul Radin’s Primitive Man as Philosopher a seminal piece of anthropological inquiry is that it is also a book of enduring wonder. Writing in the 1920s, when anthropology was still young, Radin set out to show that “primitive” cultures are as intellectually sophisticated and venturesome as any of their “civilized” counterparts. The basic questions about the structure of the natural world, the nature of right and wrong, and the meaning of life and death, as well as basic methods of considering the truth or falsehood of the answers those questions give rise to, are, Radin argues, recognizably consistent across the whole range of human societies. He rejects both the romantic myth of the noble savage and the rationalist dismissal of the primitive mind as essentially undeveloped, averring that the anthropologist and the anthropologist’s subject meet on the same philosophical ground, and only when that is acknowledged can anthropology begin in earnest. The argument is clearly and forcibly made in pages that also contain an extraordinary collection of poems, proverbs, myths, and tales from a host of different cultures, making Primitive Man as Philosopher not only a lasting contribution to the discipline of anthropology but a unique, rich, and fascinating anthology, one that both illuminates and enlarges our imagination of the human.


by Paul Radin, introduction by Neni Panourgia

Additional Book Information

Series: NYRB Classics
ISBN: 9781590177686
Pages: 496
Publication Date:

Praise

Paul Radin’s neglected classic.
—Clifford Geertz, The Antioch Review

By skillful use of texts from native informants and his own colorful prose, I believe [Radin] succeeds well enough so that the book is a landmark. . . . [Radin] is a fertile and imaginative scholar who can be infuriating but never dull . . . full of rich ideas.
—Evon Z. Vogt, American Anthropologist

Radin's approach to anthropology [was widespread], ranging from culture, ritual, myth and religion, to history, social theory, law and language.
—E.O. James, Folklore

By linking modes of thought and conduct with social types, Radin developed some leads towards a social anthropology of knowledge.
—Edward Rose, American Sociological Review

A minor masterpiece of the Americanist tradition.
—Regna Darnell

[Primitive Man as Philosopher] did more than any other [book] to dispel the mischievous notion that human beings in small, technologically simple cultures exist at a dead level of uniformity and conformity.
New York Herald Tribune

Excellent.
Nature (London)

A significant addition to the body of work that deals with the nature of religion.
The New Republic

View full details
  • Shopping for someone else but not sure what to give them? Give them the gift of choice with a New York Review Books Gift Card.

    Gift Cards 
  • A membership for yourself or as a gift for a special reader will promise a year of good reading.

    Join NYRB Classics Book Club 
  • Is there a book that you’d like to see back in print, or that you think we should consider for one of our series? Let us know!

    Tell us about it