From Nature to Culture. Notes on the Philosophy of History between Plato and Lévi-Strauss

Through a rapid analysis of the concepts of nature and culture, this contribution aims to lay the groundwork for a research hypothesis that explores an unconventional comparison between a major thinker of antiquity, Plato, and one of the pioneers of 20th-century anthropology, Claude Lévi-Strauss. The goal is to outline possible future dialectical trajectories. The essay seeks to investigate the correlational logics that connect the idealized notions of the state of nature and the state of culture within the framework of theoretical philosophy, philosophy of history, and cultural semiotics. Drawing from these disciplines, it assembles a conceptual toolbox to examine the compatible and incompatible elements between the two authors' theses. This interdisciplinary methodological approach revitalizes the heuristic potential of a systematic comparison between cultural manifestations from different historical periods through the theories of key thinkers, offering a critical perspective on those specific cultures.