Abstract
Ever since Kant, the possibility of having objects of knowledge has been one of the most basic anthropological questions (“what can I know?”). For the logician, the linguist, or the semiologist who studies natural language, negation is one of these objects. However, as an operation and as a symbol, it has the paradoxical property of not being able to be objectivized in the discourse that treats it without being used in this construction. Of course, it is an entirely general problem that it is not possible to have a “distant view” of symbolism without using a symbolism of some sort or another. Anthropology is essentially concerned with such objects. The descriptions of ethnologists are thus fertile ground for the epistemologist who believes, like Aristotle, that non-being is not and therefore that, even though in fact we speak only of things (otherwise, what good is speaking?) our discourse cannot be a copy of them.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adam, J.M., M.J. Borel, C. Calame, and M. Kilani: 1990, Le discours anthropologique, Paris, Klinksieck, “Méridiens”.
Berti, E.: 1990, ‘Etre et non-être chez Aristote: contraires ou contradictores?’, Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie 122, 341–349.
Borel, M.-J.: 1990, ‘Textes et constructions des objets de connaissances’, in C. Reichler (ed.), L'interprétation des textes, Paris, Minuit, pp. 115–156.
Borel, M.-J.: 1991, ‘Objets de discours et représentations’, in J.C. Coquet and J. Petitot (eds.), L'objet, sens et réalité, Langages.
Cassirer, E.: 1972, Philosophie des formes symboliques, vol. III, “La phénoménologie de la connaissance”, Paris, Minuit.
Clastres, P.: 1972, Chronique des Indiens Guayaki: ce que savent les Aché, chasseurs du Paraguay, Paris, Plon, “Terre Humaine”.
Dourne, J.: 1978, Forêt, femme, folie. Une traversée de l'imaginaire Joraï, Paris, Aubier, “Etranges, Etrangers”.
Evans-Pritchard, E.E.: 1972, Sorcellerie, oracles et magie chez les Azandés du Soudan, Paris, Gallimard.
Frege, G.: 1971, ‘La négation’, in Ecrits logiques et philosophiques, Paris, Seuil.
Gonseth, F.: 1937, ‘Qu’est-ce que la logique?’, Paris, Hermann.
Granger, G.G.: 1987, ‘La contradiction’, in La négation sous divers aspects, Neuchâtel, Tavaux du CDRS 56, p. 40.
Grize, J.B.: 1990, Logique et langage, Paris, Ophrys.
Horn, L.R.: 1989, A Natural History of Negation, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.
Lizot, J.: 1976, Le cercle des feux. Faits et dits des Indiens Yanomami, Paris, Seuil, “Recherches anthropologiques”.
Malaurie, J.: 1976, Les derniers rois de Thulé. Avec les esquimaux polaires face à leur destin, Paris, Plon, “Terre Humaine”.
Muralt, de A.: 1990, ‘L'être du non-être en perspective aristotélicienne’, Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie 122, 305–318.
Piaget, J.: 1967, Logique et connaissance scientifique, Paris, Gallimard, “La Pléiade”.
Piaget, J., and E.W. Beth: 1961, Epistémologie mathématique et psychologie, Paris, P.U.F.
Quine, W.V.O.: 1978, ‘Negation’, in Quiddities. An Intermittently Philosophical Dictionary, Cambridge, Mass., The Belknap Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Translated from the French by Gary Walker.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Borel, MJ. Anthropological objects and negation. Argumentation 6, 7–27 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00154256
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00154256