From Neolithic Naturalness to Tristes Tropiques: the emergence of Lévi-Strauss's new humanism

International audienceThis article aims to substantiate the idea that within the contradictory strands of anti-structural critiques of Lévi-Strauss's anthropology as whether inherently anti-humanistic or metaphysically humanistic, his Rousseauian inspiration and the new humanism of structural anthropology as a human science are rarely appreciated, despite the fact that they could lay strong claim to having mapped the philosophical parameters of an increasing preoccupation with issues of political concern and engagement within anthropology in the post-colonial era. In this article it is argued that, above all, Lévi-Strauss's critique of modernity is not an idealistic call for a return to the state of nature. The virtual reconstructions of structural anthropology can be applied to reform modern society. There is a question of enrolling anthropology within a secular project of the emancipation of humankind, "in order to extend humanism to the measure of humanity"