If only there was a Department of Fieldwork in Philosophy

Fieldwork in philosophy is a second-order philosophical anthropology that examines contemporary forms of the human by studying lower-level concepts and practices. Unlike Michel Foucault's historical approach, it uses anthropological fieldwork to investigate the present. The essay reconstructs Paul Rabinow's conception of this method, illustrated through case studies: the perennial philosophy of the psychedelic renaissance, neurophilosophers in a sleep laboratory, and cultural primatologists studying human nature in the African rainforest. It concludes by advocating for reimagining anthropology as fieldwork in philosophy.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Fieldwork in philosophy amounts to a second-order philosophical anthropology. It examines contemporary forms of the human by attending to lower-level concepts and practices. It departs from Michel Foucault’s gray and meticulous approach to the history of the present, which understands the transformation of high-level organizing concepts such as “Man” or “the subject” through an inquiry into scientific discourses, clinical practices, disciplinary institutions, etc. However, fieldwork in philosophy doesn’t approach the present by writing its history but by conducting anthropological fieldwork. This essay reconstructs Paul Rabinow’s conception of fieldwork in philosophy as it inspired the author’s work on the perennial philosophy of the psychedelic renaissance, a case study of neurophilosophers in a sleep laboratory, as well as research on cultural primatologists who took the Enlightenment question of human nature to the African rainforest. The essay ends with a plea for reimagining anthropology as fieldwork in philosophy.