ABSTRACT
Primitives do not classify the entities in nature in orders clearly marked out from each other, nor do they attach the same importance to the distinction between living beings and others, as we do. Without having thought about the matter, they believe that there is homogeneity of essence in all the persons and things, even inanimate, that surround them. In conformity with this ever-present attitude of theirs, their main preoccupation is the dispositions of these animals, and the methods by which they may be made favourable to the hunter. It is the same with regard to all the vegetable species and, in a general way, to all beings and objects in nature whose dispositions may influence their lot. To their minds the dispositions of conscious subjects do not differ from those of beings and things to which we should not dream of attributing consciousness.
