Diagrams

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Previous articleNext article FreeDiagramsMAURO WILLIAM BARBOSA DE ALMEIDAMAURO WILLIAM BARBOSA DE ALMEIDAState University of Campinas Search for more articles by this author State University of CampinasPDFPDF PLUSFull TextEPUBMOBI Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreI am inspired by Marshall’s reading of Philippe Descola’s quadripartite ontological taxonomy. Actual ontologies are much more complex, as he points out. I wonder if diagrams could make this more explicit, and I attach a few suggestions.Diagram 1 is just Sahlins’ original diagram. Diagram 2 is a transformation of Sahlins’ original diagram (Diagram 1) suggested by Lévi-Strauss’ “totemic operator” (thanks to Kelly for the reminder).Diagram 3 introduces multiple combinations, many of them suggested by Sahlins himself. It suggests two possible readings of Sahlins’ point: one more concerned with “superstructures,” and the other more along the lines of an “order of orders” which connects “superstructures” and “infrastructures”.In Diagram 4 all hell breaks loose. No complete taxonomy of categories is possible.These diagrams have an interesting history which links two seemingly disparate sources: first, Lévi-Strauss’ totemic operator in La pensée sauvage (1962) and in his diagrams in Histoire de lynx (1991; transformed by Eduardo Viveiros de Castro); second, “Galois lattices” invented by Barbut and Monjardet (1970) and put to use more recently by Parrochia and Neuville (2013).Diagram 1: Sahlins’ Lattices.View Large ImageDownload PowerPointDiagram 2: Totemic Operator Format.View Large ImageDownload PowerPointDiagram 3: Sahlins´ lattice in Galois–Lévi-Strauss format.View Large ImageDownload PowerPointDiagram 4: An order-of-orders version. In the line “open to multiple connections,” there could be as many lines as desired.View Large ImageDownload PowerPointReferencesMarc Barbut, Bernard Monjardet 1970. Ordre et classification. Paris: Hachette.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarClaude Lévi-Strauss 1962. La pensée sauvage. Paris: Plon.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarClaude Lévi-Strauss 1991. Histoire de lynx. Paris: Plon.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarDaniel Parrochia, Pierre Neuville 2013. Towards a general theory of classifications. Basel: Springer.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarMauro William Barbosa DE ALMEIDA is Professor of Social Anthropology at the State University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil. His areas of research include Amazonia, extractive reserves, social diversity, and anthropological theory. He participated in the planning of Forest University (Universidade Federal do Acre—Forest Campus).MAURO WILLIAM BARBOSA DE ALMEIDA Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, State University of CampinasSão Paulo, Brazil[email protected]com.br Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory Volume 4, Number 1Summer 2014 Published on behalf of the Society for Ethnographic Theory Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.14318/hau4.1.014 Views: 1187 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons | © Mauro William Barbosa de Almeida. 2014.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.