How Natives Think

When Lévy-Bruhl uses the word "primitive", this does not in any way reflect a devaluation or labeling as, in any way, inferiority. On the contrary, it is Lévy-Bruhl who portrays the thinking of indigenous peoples as simply different from ours. The work of Lévy-Bruhl also had a strong influence on Lev S. Vygotsky and the development of his concept of culture and history. Authors who, from today's perspective and in the face of current research, were far ahead of their time were often misunderstood or simply ignored by their contemporaries. And even if an excerpt from an extensive work is always subjective, it still offers a middle ground between subsuming under a catchphrase on the one hand, and intensive preoccupation with the author and his work on the other. If you want to deal intensively with the work, please refer to a reprint.

Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (10 April 1857 - 13 March 1939) was a French scholar trained in philosophy who furthered anthropology with his contributions to the budding fields of sociology and ethnology.