Re: eurocentrism

Mon, 28 Oct 1996 15:27:32 -0700 (MST)
Albert J Bergesen (albert@U.Arizona.EDU)

On Mon, 28 Oct 1996 wally@cats.ucsc.edu wrote:

>
> While we're at it, let's abolish anthropocentrism, primatocentrism
> mammalocentrism, biocentrism, and perhaps galaxocentrism. How about
> cosmocentrism?
>
> w
>
That it sounds like getting rid of a word, or a vanity from one group or
peninsula's point of view--their "centricism"--the issue isn't the vanity
per se, but the real problem that the Marx Weber (all all derivations that
follow the basic assumptions) are probably wrong.

It is also a continium. From the philosopnical point of view of deep
ecology, anthropocentricism is something that will probably be replaced
too by a more eco-centric perspective. That is happening in moral thought
already--the greening of everything from social theory to theology.

The other levels of analysis Wally notes are, infact, more encompassing,
and in theory one would want to understand the largest set of frames, the
framing frame, cosmocentricism, maybe. Its just not as yet doable. But
the issue isn't just getting rid of the "centricisms" per se, but of
constantly looking to the wider frame whithin which we exist.


Albert Bergesen
Department of Sociology
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona 85721
Phone: 520-621-3303
Fax: 520-621-9875
email: albert@u.arizona.edu