Re: dialogue of civilizations?

If you put a certain number of trees together, you
have a "wood" ("forest", "jungle"). The term "wood" in
such a case is not more "ideological" than any other
term. Many ships can make a "fleet" and many human
beings can become a "people", many words a "language"
and many ideas a "culture", many habits can make a
"civilization"... and so on (you may prefer to say tha
a culture is made of habits and a civilization of
rules, or elsewise, but my point is not about how to
achieve the best semantic results right now).

I agree that terms like "civilizations" are often used
in a vicious way, from my point of view. But also are
many other terms. We can't abolish them.

Best regards,
Francesco Ranci

--- Andre Gunder Frank <franka@fiu.edu> wrote:
> 
> There has been a vivid discussions among Eastern
> Intellectuals on the
> problem of inter-civilizational dialogue.
> 
> Indeed the UN named 2001 the Year of Dialogue of
> Civilizations.
> Therefore the UN University in Tokyo had a big
> conference about it.
> Here is the fist paragraph of my intervention there
> [the remainder is on
> my web-page]
> 
> DIALOGUEs-YES.  CIVILIZATIONs- NO.
> NOT EVEN SOCIETIES NOR CULTURES.
> 
> CIVILIZATIONS NO: There are no and have never been
> distinct pristine
> civilizationS, societieS, cultureS nor even peopleS.
> The very ideas are
> nothing but ideology, pure and simple although their
> use occults - that
> term is created chosen deliberately! - simple and
> complex reality. In the
> plural, the invention and use of these terms
> especially in reference to
> one's own "civilization" as distinct from others,
> not to mention
> "barbarism" of others, knowingly or not represents
> an often occult and
> sometimes even express claim -no more and no more
> less - to an alleged
> superiority. It invokes a [God?] chosen Herrenvolk
> of us, distinct from
> and even against others.  This claim since the
> nineteenth century and
> still in the twenty-first, has recently been most
> and best expressed in
> and through still widely reigning American ideology.
> With abundant
> self-congratulation it claims already to have
> arrived at The End of
> History [Fukayama] even as it still faces "The Clash
> of Civilizations" of
> "The West against the Rest," [Huntington] and Jihad
> vs. McDonaldization
> [Barber] to combat "The Coming Anarchy in the World"
> [Kaplan]. All of
> these pundits and their misleading civilizational
> theses of civilizational
> clash between "us" and "them" are ideologically
> suspect and
> socio-politically divisive, often intentionally so.
> We must counter them
> with more realistic and at the same time humano- and
> eco-centric studies
> with messages that reflect past, present and future
> reality as well as our
> continued need for diversity in unity and unity in
> diversity.
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>    
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
>                ANDRE    GUNDER      FRANK
> 
> Senior Fellow                                     
> Residence
> World History Center                    One
> Longfellow Place
> Northeastern University                           
> Apt. 3411
> 270 Holmes Hall                         Boston, MA
> 02114 USA
> Boston, MA 02115 USA                    Tel:   
> 617-948 2315
> Tel: 617 - 373 4060                     Fax:   
> 617-948 2316
> Web-page:csf.colorado.edu/agfrank/    
> e-mail:franka@fiu.edu
> 
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness
http://health.yahoo.com