#55: How Shall we Live? with anthropologist and lineologist Tim Ingold @waymaking23

Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Life is not built by blocks but by lines woven together according to Tim Ingold (timingold.com/) , emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Aberdeen and a leading thinker in anthropology and philosophy. Tim Ingold and Andrea Hiott explore key themes from Tim's influential works, such as 'Anthropology: Why It Matters' and 'Lines,' discussing how life is a continuous journey along interwoven threads and traces shaped by our every action. Building on Gibson, Deleuze, Hallowell, Merleau-Ponty, and others, Ingold's idea of 'wayfaring' as our fundamental mode of being challenges traditional distinctions between nature and culture, mind and body, and forces us out of block-mind and into traces and threads of life interwoven. This enriching dialogue touches on the importance of awareness, attention, and responsibility, offering insights into how these ideas can help us navigate toward a world where love and respect for life are central. Whether it's through storytelling, music, or everyday actions, learn how our paths shape our humanity and influence the futures we create. This episode is an opportunity to reflect on how we should live together in a world full of possibility, a world we love enough to take responsibility for together.

00:00 Introduction to Love and Philosophy
00:05 Introducing Tim Ingold and His Work
00:43 The Concept of Lines in Life
01:43 Wayfaring and Life as a Process
02:54 The Importance of Awareness and Responsibility
04:18 Tim Ingold's Influences and Philosophical Approach
10:28 Tim Ingold's Early Life and Inspirations
17:26 Fieldwork and Anthropology
25:16 Challenging Traditional Divisions in Science and Humanities
32:07 The Evolution of Tim Ingold's Thought
48:47 Revisiting Nature and Culture
51:48 Anthropology as a Conversation
54:46 The Anthropological Conversation
56:12 Subject and Object in Anthropology
57:58 The Middle Voice of the Verb
59:39 Crafting and Teaching
01:06:38 The Concept of Lines
01:13:24 Embodiment and Attention
01:27:42 The Future of Technology and Education
01:39:52 Hope for the Future

timingold.com

Lines (bol.com/nl/nl/f/lines/30061816/) , the book

Anthropology, why it matters (wiley.com/en-us/Anthropology%3A+Why+It+Matters-p-9781509519804)

‘For we are made of lines. We are not only referring to lines of writing. Lines of writing conjugate with other lines, life lines, lines of luck or misfortune, lines productive of the variation of the line of writing itself, lines that are between the lines of writing.’

— Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus

A great interview with Tim Ingold by Juan Loaiza for ENSO. (youtube.com/live/zaZy0NWQoKo?si=uliMpzu4yH2kdvSh)

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Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness (simonandschuster.net/books/Holding-Paradox/Andrea-Hiott/9781917991636) by Andrea Hiott

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