Acknowledgment ix
Introduction Ethos, Logos, and Pathos 1
Hetero-Logoi 4
Equipment 6
Modern Equipment 11
Chapter 1: Midst Anthropology's Problems 13
Labor, Life, Language 14
Inquiry: From Reconstruction to Problematization 15
Cultural Goods 20
Restraint 28
Chapter 2: Method 31
Cultural Singularity 32
Ideal Types 36
Intelligibility 37
Chapter 3: Object 44
Problematization 44
Dispositif: Apparatus 49
Anthropology of the Actual 55
Chapter 4: Mode 57
Modern Historicity 58
Nominalism: Duchamp 61
Deductions: Klee 68
Chapter 5: Form 76
Contemporary Chronicles 77
Philia: Writing Logos, Writing Ethos 79
Formative: Wissensarbeitsforschung 83
Chapter 6: Discontents and Consolations 91
Discontents 92
Science as a Vocation: Truth versus Meaning 96
1917-1989: Enlightenment Betrayed 102
Consolations 105
Chapter 7: Demons and Durcharbeiten 107
Malaise in Motion 108
Demons and Durcharbeiten 119
Conclusion From Progress to Motion 122
Pascal: Enterprises 123
Infinity 128
Exemplary Cases 130
Progress or Motion? 133
Notes 137
Bibliography 149
Index of Selected Names 153
Index of Concepts 155
The discipline of anthropology is, at its best, characterized by turbulence, self-examination, and inventiveness. In recent decades, new thinking and practice within the field has certainly reflected this pattern, as shown for example by numerous fruitful ventures into the "politics and poetics" of anthropology. Surprisingly little attention, however, has been given to the simple insight that anthropology is composed of claims, whether tacit or explicit, about anthropos and about logos--and the myriad ways in which these two Greek nouns have been, might be, and should be, connected. Anthropos Today represents a pathbreaking effort to fill this gap.
Paul Rabinow brings together years of distinguished work in this magisterial volume that seeks to reinvigorate the human sciences. Specifically, he assembles a set of conceptual tools--"modern equipment"--to assess how intellectual work is currently conducted and how it might change.
Anthropos Today crystallizes Rabinow's previous ethnographic inquiries into the production of truth about life in the world of biotechnology and genome mapping (and his invention of new ways of practicing this pursuit), and his findings on how new practices of life, labor, and language have emerged and been institutionalized. Here, Rabinow steps back from empirical research in order to reflect on the conceptual and ethical resources available today to conduct such inquiries.
Drawing richly on Foucault and many other thinkers including Weber and Dewey, Rabinow concludes that a "contingent practice" must be developed that focuses on "events of problematization." Brilliantly synthesizing insights from American, French, and German traditions, he offers a lucid, deeply learned, original discussion of how one might best think about anthropos today.
Paul Rabinow is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. His recent books include French DNA: Trouble in Purgatory, Essays on the Anthropology of Reason (Princeton), and Making PCR, A Story of Biotechnology.