My presentation will explore the potential of a 'poetics of knowledge' to account for both Western and nonWestern thought. The notion of a 'poetics of knowledge' has been most prominently elaborated in twentiethcentury structuralism, notably by Haydn White in his 'Metahistory' (1973). While Giambattista Vico's 'New Science' (1725) is an important source for this tradition, White's genealogy also includes a certain Stephen C. Pepper. In 'World Hypothesis' (1942), Pepper systematizes Western thought by classifying its structural premises and identifies four dominant paradigms within the Western philosophical tradition and scientific practice. However, Pepper's system also takes into account other poetic modes, including, intriguingly, 'animism,' a concept he develops on the basis of Edward Burnett Tylor's 'Primitive Culture' (1871).
This historical exercise in comparative metaphysics is flawed in many ways. Tylor's discussion of 'animism' is based on the assumption of a universal evolution of culture. Pepper explicitly rejects 'animism' as falling short as an 'adequate' metaphysical hypothesis. Mitigating such biases, however, I suggest that a 'poetics of knowledge' provides a productive framework for accounting for knowledge practices within and beyond what is conventionally known as Western science.