Reflection Of Eduardo Kohn's How Forests Think

To understand the notions put forward by Eduardo Kohn in ‘How Forests Think’, our anthropologic views must first be deconstructed. It is only after this that we begin to see ‘beyond the human’; as Kohn describes, it is a “kind of thinking that grows” (2013:27). Set out in six coherent chapters, Kohn begins by introducing familiar anthropological concepts. His exploration of semiotic dynamic, and how symbols and language are unique to humans, remind us of the well-known concept of homosapien dominance over other species. It is however, as we are introduced to various semiotic concepts within the sub-sections of each chapter, that these familiar notions slowly start to morph into more complex ideas. It is these ideas that force us to question the subject of anthropology as a whole, extending our anthropological view ‘beyond the human’. Through his exploration of social dynamic of the Avila and their neighbouring villages in the Napo Province …show more content…
It is however Descartes’ ‘Cogito ero sum’ or ‘I think therefore I am’ that is most readily pulled into question. Kohn primarily draws upon various existing anthropological concepts, such as the significance of humans as ‘complex wholes,’ a concept put forward by E. B. Tylor (1871). According to Kohn, humans are indeed in many ways unique, with the example of our ability to recognise symbols. However, through further exploration of semiotic dynamic, Kohn also continuously points out two other forms of representation: index and sign. Kohn believes that these forms of representation can also be applicable beyond the human, to animals and plants. Ergo, it is because of this symbolic identification that non-humans are also able to obtain the notion of