Controversial aspects of the concept of thinking nature in western anthropology

The article is devoted to the controversial aspects of the theoretical assumptions of such modern Western anthropologists as Philippe Descola, eduardo Cohn and eduardo Viveiros de Castro, regarding the relationship between man and nature in archaic societies. To correct the idea about the originality of their conclusions the author of the article refers to the works of prominent russian ethnographers - Vladimir Bogoraz, lev Sternberg and Vladimir Arseniev.