Re: Nikolai's message below-- I know I'm missing something, but it seems
there are a few lessons of other civilizations the west failed to learn,
regarding interacting peaceably with other cultures and the non-human
world, preserving that which is worthwhile from the past, prioritizing
livelihood over economic 'growth'... By the way,
what may be the single most important cultural technology--movable type
printing--was 'invented' in Europe only after they were aware that the
Chinese had devised a machine to do something similar ('invented',
therefore, in the same sense that the USSR 'invented' the atom bomb).
Steven Sherman
Binghamton University
On Mon, 4 Nov 1996, Nikolai S. Rozov wrote:
> Dear Bruce,
> I almost agree,but...
>
> Bruce McFarling <ecbm@cc.newcastle.edu.au>:
>
> >In part, it is the difference between the
> > thesis "unusual and historically important things happened in Europe" and
> > "Europe is unique because of the unusual and historically important things
> > that happened there". The first is true -- but it is also true of other
> > regions of the globe, which is why the second is false.
>
> no objections here but what about such argument:
>
> "Europe is unique because no other civilization managed to assimilate
> achievements of almost all other living world civilizations, and no other
> civilization except the Western one (based on Europe) managed to disseminate
> so widely and deeply its (original or deeply assimilated) social, cultural,
> and technological patterns in all over the world"
>
> One can remind Sumerian states and agricultural technology,
> Phoenecian alphabetic system, Persian coins and province control, Judaic
> monotheism, Indian- Arabic numbers and maths, Chinese porcelain and gunpowder
> but ...
>
> can it be
> compared with overwhelming wide Western realm of
> patterns: Christianity originated in Roman Empire, nation-state
> political and legal forms, stock exchanges, financial systems, all
> modern sciences and almost all technologies, educational systems, democratic,
> liberal and human rights principles, genres and forms in literature, art,
> music, cinema, TV, computing, etc ?
>
> best regards, Nikolai
>
>
>
>
> ***********************************************************
>
> Nikolai S. Rozov # Address:Dept. of Philosophy
> Prof.of Philosophy # Novosibirsk State University
> rozov@cnit.nsu.ru # 630090, Novosibirsk
> Fax: (3832) 355237 # Pirogova 2, RUSSIA
>
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