Tribal Epistemologies: Essays in the Philosophy of Anthropology

This collection of ten essays seeks to transform our understanding of both the role of philosophical anthropology in modern world philosophy and the sagacious origins of tribal knowledge in their relations to contemporary assessments of cognition and consciousness. Ethnographic data from geographically distant cultures - such as the Maori of New Zealand, the Fore of New Guinea, the Cowlitz of North America, the Maya, Australian Aborigines, Siberian Shamans - are carefully crafted toward an empirical basis for discussing a variety of phenomena traditionally labelled in Western thought as transcendent or metaphysical. This anthology is a valuable source of information relevant or any theories of knowledge and a solid challenge for reductionist models of consciousness. The essays aim to enhance our recognition and appreciation of fundamental similarities as well as differences in world views and cultural perspectives related to knowledge claims.