This essay is an attempt to understand the anthropological presuppositions of interpretation of Hawaiian thought in the 18th century considering the reciprocal elucidation of Marshall Sahlins's and Gananath Obeyesekere's arguments about this way of thinking. It is not possible to reproduce the authors' arguments in all their ethnographical profusion and theoretical sophistication therefore it was our option to emphasize the identification of Captain Cook as the Hawaiian god Lono in order to make explicit Sahlins's and Obeyesekere's concerns regarding the validity of such a practice as a rational behavior.
Antropological interpretation; Hawaiian rationality; Sahlins; Obeyesekere