Two opposing discourses of the integral management of rivers: the anthropocentric river versus the ecocentric river

Nowadays, most of our rivers are planned according to the feasible discourse of river integrated management. Despite this aim, river management is still problematic, especially in the relation between the «river natural uses» and the «river social uses». On this issue, the article attempts to show the social, scientific and management bases which turn «the river» into an incomplete concept. This is caused by the existence of two theoretic and pragmatic discourses, essentially different: the anthropocentric discourse and the ecocentric discourse.