Lucien Lévy-Bruhl

Born in Paris in 1857, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl was trained in philosophy and went on to teach at the Sorbonne, where he served as professor of philosophy for many years. Over time, his work moved toward sociology and ethnology, and he became one of the notable French thinkers linking philosophy with the emerging human sciences.

He is best remembered for studies of what he called the mentality of so-called "primitive" societies, explored in books such as How Natives Think and Primitive Mentality. While many of his conclusions were later challenged, his attempt to take seriously forms of thought that did not fit European logical models had a lasting impact on anthropology, religion, and the study of myth.

Late in life, Lévy-Bruhl reconsidered some of his earlier sharp distinctions between "primitive" and "civilized" thought. That self-correction is part of why he remains an interesting figure today: not only for his influence, but also for the way his work shows anthropology wrestling with its own assumptions in the early twentieth century.