Philosophical Influence
Despite his discontent with most academic philosophy at his time, Geertz was largely influenced by two philosophers: Gilbert Ryle and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Drawing on the tradition of ordinary language philosophy, he adopted the proposition of thick description from the British philosopher Gilbert Ryle and imported the concept of family resemblances into anthropology from the post-analytic philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. He also introduced Alfred Schütz's...distinctions among predecessors, consociates, contemporaries and successors, distinctions that have become commonplace in anthropology' in his wake. Geertz stressed how the links between 'consociate-contemporary-predecessor-successor... the umwelt-mitwelt-vorwelt-vogelwelt formulation' of Schutz's phenomenology.
Read more about this topic: Clifford Geertz
Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“They tell us that women can bring better things to pass by indirect influence. Try to persuade any man that he will have more weight, more influence, if he gives up his vote, allies himself with no party and relies on influence to achieve his ends! By all means let us use to the utmost whatever influence we have, but in all justice do not ask us to be content with this.”
—Mrs. William C. Gannett, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 5, ch. 8, by Ida Husted Harper (1922)