The Western Illusion of Human Nature: With Reflections on the Long History of Hierarchy, Equality, and the Sublimation of Anarchy in the West, and Comparative Notes on Other Conceptions of the Human Condition Marshall Sahlins PRICKLY PARADIGM PRESS CHICAGO© 2008 Marshall Sahlins All rights reserved. Prickly Paradigm Press, LLC 5629 South University Avenue Chicago, Il 60637 www.prickly-paradigm.com ISBN: 0-9794057-2-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-9794057-2-3 LCCN: 2008928703 An earlier version of this pamphlet was delivered as a Tanner Lecture at the University of Michigan on 4 November 2005. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.Notice: Over the past decade or two, courses on “Western Civilization” have been occupying a progressively smaller place in the curricula of American colleges. Here I attempt to accelerate the trend by reducing “Western Civ” to approximately three hours. My justification is the Nietzschean principle that big issues are like cold baths: one should get into and out of them as quickly as possible.