Clifford Geertz

I think the perception of there being a deep gulf between science and the humanities is false. ”

Anthropology never has had a distinct subject matter, and because it doesn't have a real method, there's a great deal of anxiety over what it is. ”

I was trained in the '50s as a New Critic. I remember what literature was like before the New Critics, when people stood up and talked about Shelley's soul and such things. ”

We need to think more about the nature of rhetoric in anthropology. There isn't a body of knowledge and thought to fall back on in this regard. ”

I'm writing a review of three books on feminism and science, and it's about social constructionism. So I would say I'm a social constructionist, whatever that means. ”

We're getting closer to our nature. ”

I had a hard time convincing students that they were going to North Africa to understand the North Africans, not to understand themselves. ”

I think the American university system still seems to be the best system in the world. ”

I don't feel that an atmosphere of debate and total disagreement and argument is such a bad thing. It makes for a vital and alive field. ”