Anthropology with a philosophical sensibility

While philosophy and anthropology have much to say to each other, they do not always mesh in productive ways. Critically reflecting on an edited volume that seeks to bring insights from philosophy to anthropological analysis, I consider how the volume's form, while didactic, may contribute to the reproduction of power dynamics that both anthropologists and philosophers have denounced. More broadly, however, I argue that reading and engaging with philosophy can broaden anthropologists' theoretical imagination and perception in the field, just as having an anthropological sensibility can expand the philosophical imagination and open new avenues of philosophical inquiry.