Being alive and educating attention: The persistent value of the work of Tim Ingold

This chapter presents some brief thoughts on the enduring value of Tim Ingold’s work and his thinking. It explores the relevance of his contributions to a range of current issues and challenges in academia and beyond. Tim Ingold has engaged with the distinction between social and biological anthropology for a long time. He has been one of the very few researchers within social anthropology who has never lost sight of the biological dimension of human existence. His work has been transcending established academic and disciplinary boundaries, particularly between social and biological anthropology. He has been described as “one of the most original and radical thinkers alive”. Turning to a very different side of Ingold’s work, on the subject of education, in democratic societies, the most important task of schools and universities is to educate free and self-determined citizens to form a tolerant community oriented towards the wellbeing of all.