On Tue, 29 Oct 1996 ba05105@binghamton.edu wrote:
> Apart from doubts many of us have about the 'secular rationalism' of the
> enlightenment (has Wagar ever heard of Gandhi, greens, cultural feminists,
> etc), does anyone here remember the old Engels line about how rationality
> began with the Greeks, Romans, and then (italics here) was developed by
> Islamic civilization, before returning to Europe to (my own thoughts here)
> fuel the most destructive military expansion in human history?
>
Yes, I have heard of Gandhi, greens, cultural feminists, not to
mention Greeks, Romans, and even Islamic philosophers (like those who
flourished during the Abbasid caliphate). When I use the phrase "secular
rationalism of the Enlightenment," I refer to a specific movement of
thought that ran its course during the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe
and parts of the Americas. Of course it had antecedents and precursors.
Who and what does not? But Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Voltaire, Rousseau,
d'Holbach, and Hume were not re-runs of Greek or Islamic philosophers;
and Gandhi, greens, and cultural feminists were not re-runs of them!
Then comes the point that the Enlightenment fueled "the most
destructive military expansion in human history." Well, that's a pretty
sweeping statement, but certainly parts of it helped provide some of the
ideological ammunition for the most destructive military expansion in
human history. It also helped fuel Marx and Engels. It provided some
ideas that Gandhi, greens, and cultural feminists picked up, too.
For example, I detected more than a whiff of the Enlightenment in the
remarks of Ralph Nader Sunday evening at Binghamton University. But this
is not to sing the praises of Euro-American civilization; only to suggest
that it has made a big dent in world history and deserves a lot of the
blame and the credit for getting us where we (i.e, we human beings) are
today. It is not "Eurocentric" in the pejorative sense of the word to say
so.
W. Warren Wagar