Claude Lévi-Strauss

Less than a fortnight past one of my academic heroes passed on. Language Log has a good summary of the highlights of his life and some touching stories of bygone eras. I haven't a lot to add to Dan Everett's treatment, but I thought I'd send it along for those who don't read LL.

My love for bringing linguistics and anthropology into the discourse of other fields, and much of my philosophical perspective on the need for integrating formalism and functionalism, both stem from Lévi-Strauss and his work. Too rarely do people cross the borders in academia, and too rarely do they try to integrate opposing theories rather than choosing a side. One of the greatest of our clan is fallen.