Extracted from publication Lexia. Rivista di semiotica
Two Meanings of the Nature/Culture Opposition: Distinguishing Between Distinctions and Dualisms
DOI: 10.53136/97912218244696
Pages: 99-120
Publication date: January 2026
Publisher: Aracne
SSD:
M-FIL/05
This paper examines the opposition between nature and culture by distinguishing two ways of conceiving the very idea of opposition: as a metaphysical dualism and as a simple distinction. Drawing on Descola, Latour, and Dewey, I will show how “overcoming” the nature/culture opposition can take on different and opposite meanings, depending on how one conceives opposition. More specifically, rejecting the dualism affirms both nature and culture as real and distinguishable things, while rejecting the distinction between natural and cultural things implies affirming the dualism between nature and culture.
