ONTOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY OF INTERANIMALITY: MERLEAU-PONTY FROM TIM INGOLD'S PERSPECTIVE

This essay explores Tim Ingold's anthropological theory following his references to Merteau-Ponty and the concept of interanimality/interagentivity. It poses some ideas of Ingold's "poetics of dwelling", which he highlights from ethnographies of hunter-gatherer peoples, and how these ideas are linked to an ontological consideration which does not dissociate body and person, body and mind, nature and culture, animality and humanity. The paper reviews literature on animals in Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, and Ingold's critique of "Anthropology of the senses". It also gives critical clues for the ethical and political implications of this ontology.