Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The problem of recognition; 2. The image of the barbarian; 3. The theory of natural slavery; 4. From nature's slaves to nature's children; 5. The rhetorician and the theologians: Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and his dialogue, Democrates secundus; 6. A programme for comparative ethnology (I); 7. A programme for comparative ethnology (II); 8. Joseph François Lafitau: comparative ethnology and the language of symbols; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Reviews

'Pagden's subtle account ... is a model for the history of anthropology altogether. It shows, too, how constant some of the subject's central conceptions have been over the succeeding four hundred years.' The London Review of Books ' ... in the subtlety of its analysis and the richness of its detail The Fall of Natural Man surpasses all previous writings on the subject in any language.' The Times Higher Education Supplement 'The strength and novelty of the book consists in the seriousness with which Pagden reconstructs the classificatory theories of sixteenth-century Iberians and uses them to explain much of their writing on the Indians.' Political Studies 'We must thank Anthony Pagden for having, in this erudite and well-written study, demonstrated in a definitive manner the importance of the ethnological contribution of sixteenth-century Spanish authors.' Revue historique