EUROCENTRISM. The emergence of Eurocentrism reflected a long conflict and a binary, ethnocentric opposition of European civilization to the ancient and medieval East. In the romantic historiography of the 19th century, a myth arose that E. as a historical phenomenon began to take shape during the period of the Greco-Persian wars. In accordance with these ideas, the writings of ancient Greek authors (Aristotle, Plato) reflected the formation of stereotypical ideas about the “barbarian,” despotic, static East, which is characterized by universal slavery of the population and the metaphysical nature of culture. In contrast, the Greeks and then the Romans were identified with such qualities as rationality, straightforwardness, individualism, and the desire for freedom. This hypothesis is currently disputed in a number of studies (S. Amin, M. Bernal, S. Kara-Murza) - in particular, it is noted that the ancient Greeks did not carry out a radical separation from the cultural area of ​​​​the ancient East; that the complementary potential and interpenetration of both civilizations was clearly expressed in Hellenism and early Christianity; that the European West itself is not the only heir and successor of ancient civilization.

The sharp opposition between East and West continued in the Middle Ages in the form of military-religious confrontation between Christianity and Islam. During the era of the Arab caliphates, Islam developed an alternative ecumenical perspective. The Muslim threat contributed to the transformation of the fragmented family of Romano-Germanic peoples into Christian Europe, into a territorial and cultural integrity opposing itself to the Islamic world. The era of the Crusades, and then the three-hundred-year period of Ottoman expansion, cemented the stereotypes of military-ideological confrontation between civilizations. At the same time, against the backdrop of predominantly conflictual interactions, significant processes of cultural diffusion and exchange took place between Europe and the Asian world.

During the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, Europeans' ideas about the world around them expanded significantly, and direct contacts began with the civilizations of Africa, Central and South America, Iran, India, China, Japan, and the Pacific region. Having moved on to widespread colonial expansion, an actively modernizing Europe, with its sense of civilizational superiority, accordingly qualified the entire non-European world as backward, stagnant and uncivilized. In the public opinion of the Enlightenment, a Eurocentric view of the world gradually formed, in which a dynamic, creative, free Europe fulfills a missionary, civilizing mission in relation to the archaic, stagnating and enslaved East. During this historical period, Eurocentrism was finally formed as a political ideology that legitimized the practice of intervention of Western countries in the life of non-European communities.

During the period of colonialism, E. was reflected in the ideology of racial superiority. In theoretical aspects, it formed the basis of various theories and concepts of Westernization. Ideological and practical orientation towards European development standards seemed to be the fundamental conditions for successful modernization. At the same time, in the 19th century, thanks to fundamental breakthroughs in the study of the history and culture of the countries and peoples of Asia, Africa, and America, significant intellectual changes occurred in Eurocentrism. The idea of ​​a historical relay race and continuity of European civilization from eastern civilizations arose; they were recognized as having an important role in the development of humanity, a special evolutionary stage, outstanding achievements, different from the Western, but significant cultural potential. In scientific and socio-political thought at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the idea developed about the possibility of future convergence of different regions of the world, about the fundamental proximity and homogeneity of cultural, economic, class processes in the modern capitalist world. At the same time, the historical and political experience of Europe continued to play a leading role. Ultimately, ideas about the need to overcome Eurocentrism were formed within the European scientific and intellectual tradition (O. Spengler, A. J. Toynbee).

In modern times, Eurocentrism has helped justify the opposition of the metropolis to the national liberation movement in the colonies, allegedly due to immaturity and inability to self-government and independence; In the post-colonial period, this ideology prevents the spiritual decolonization of developing countries, becomes the ideological basis for information expansion, and contributes to the imposition of Western cultural standards and development models on them.

As Yu. L. Govorov notes, Eurocentrism in its dynamics reflected not only negative trends associated with the conflict of civilizations and expansionism, but also performed a number of useful historical and sociocultural functions. It was a natural stage in the formation and development of European and, indirectly, world culture. The peculiarities of the European mentality and way of action led to the fact that many achievements of the material and spiritual culture of world civilizations were objectively studied and comprehended in the categories and methods of scientific knowledge and rationalism. Within the framework of Eurocentrism, the idea of ​​the unity of the world-historical process and the interconnectedness of all processes on a global scale was formed. The Europeans, in their “centrism,” showed an unprecedented interest in other peoples and cultures, discovered and reconstructed the history of the East and other regions, and created specific branches of historical knowledge (anthropology, cultural studies, Oriental studies, African studies, American studies).

The definition of the concept is quoted from the publication: Theory and methodology of historical science. Terminological dictionary. Rep. ed. A.O. Chubaryan. [M.], 2014, p. 102-104.

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Eurocentrism was inherent in the European humanities from the very beginning. One of the factors that influenced (although not immediately) the departure from Eurocentrism and the acceptance of the entire real diversity of cultural worlds as equal participants in cultural dynamics was the cultural shock experienced by European culture when meeting with “alien” cultures in the process of colonial and missionary expansion XIV - XIX centuries.

French enlighteners put forward the idea of ​​expanding the geographical scope of history, recreating world history, and going beyond Eurocentrism. One of the first was Voltaire. Herder, an active student of non-European cultures, sought to outline the contributions of all peoples to cultural development.

However, at the next stage of development of European historical thought, in Hegel, it was the idea of ​​world history that turned out to be associated with the ideas of Eurocentrism - only in Europe does the world spirit achieve self-knowledge. A noticeable Eurocentrism was also characteristic of Marx's concept, which left open the question of the relationship between the Asian mode of production and the European ones - ancient, feudal and capitalist.

Historians, philosophers and sociologists of the 2nd half of the 19th century began to oppose the Eurocentrism that dominated the study of the world historical process. For example, Danilevsky criticized Eurocentrism in his theory of cultural-historical types.

In the historical science of the 20th century, the development of extensive non-European material revealed the hidden Eurocentrism of the usual idea of ​​history as a single world-historical process. Numerous alternative concepts have emerged. Spengler called the concept of world history the “Ptolemaic system of history,” based on Eurocentrism in understanding other cultures. Another example would be Toynbee's classification of civilizations. Peters also fought against Eurocentrism as an ideology that distorts the development of science in its favor and thereby imposes its proto-scientific and Eurocentric understanding of the world on other, non-European societies. Eurasians, for example, N. S. Trubetskoy, believed that overcoming Eurocentrism was necessary and positive. Eurocentrism was actively criticized in oriental studies and social anthropology in the study of primitive cultures (Rostow).

New ideological movements emerged in non-European cultures. Negritude in Africa arose in resistance to Eurocentrism and the policy of forced cultural assimilation as a component of political and social oppression, on the one hand, and against the racial-ethno-cultural (and then state-political) self-affirmation of colonized African-Negro people of origin (and then of all Negroid peoples. The philosophy of Latin American essence (Nuestro-Americanism) substantiated the decentralization of universal European discourse and refuted its claims to speak outside a specific cultural context. Opponents of Eurocentrism include Haya de la Torre, Ramos Magaña, Leopoldo Sea.

Eurocentrism as an ideology

Eurocentrism has been and is used to justify the policies of colonialism. Eurocentrism is also often used in racism.

In modern Russia, the ideology of Eurocentrism is characteristic of a significant part of the liberal intelligentsia.

Eurocentrism has become the ideological background of perestroika and reforms in modern Russia.

Eurocentrism is based on several persistent myths analyzed by Samir Amin, S. G. Kara-Murza (“Eurocentrism - the Oedipus complex of the intelligentsia”) and other researchers.

The West is equivalent to Christian civilization. Within the framework of this thesis, Christianity is interpreted as a formative feature of Western man as opposed to the “Muslim East”. Samir Amin points out that the Holy Family and the Egyptian and Syrian Fathers of the Church were not Europeans. S. G. Kara-Murza clarifies that “today it is said that the West is not a Christian, but a Judeo-Christian civilization.” At the same time, Orthodoxy is called into question (for example, according to dissident historian Andrei Amalrik and many other Russian Westerners, Russia’s adoption of Christianity from Byzantium is a historical mistake).

The West is a continuation of ancient civilization. According to this thesis, within the framework of Eurocentrism, it is believed that the roots of modern Western civilization go back to Ancient Rome or Ancient Greece, the Middle Ages period is hushed up. At the same time, the process of cultural evolution is considered continuous. Martin Bernal, cited by Samir Amin and S.G. Kara-Murza, showed that “Hellenomania” dates back to the romanticism of the 19th century, and the ancient Greeks thought of themselves as belonging to the cultural area of ​​​​the ancient East. In the book “Black Athena” M. Bernal also criticized the “Aryan” model of the origin of European civilization and instead put forward the concept of the hybrid Egyptian-Semitic-Greek foundations of Western civilization.

All modern culture, as well as science, technology, philosophy, law, etc., was created by Western civilization ( technological myth). At the same time, the contribution of other peoples is ignored or downplayed. This position was criticized by C. Lévi-Strauss, who pointed out that the modern industrial revolution is only a short-term episode in the history of mankind, and the contribution of China, India and other civilizations other than Western civilizations to the development of culture is very significant and cannot be ignored.

The capitalist economy, within the framework of the ideology of Eurocentrism, is declared “natural” and based on the “laws of nature” ( the myth of “homo economicus”, going back to Hobbes). This position underlies social Darwinism, which has been criticized by many authors. Hobbes's ideas about man's natural state under capitalism have been criticized by anthropologists, notably Marshall Sahlins. Ethologist Konrad Lorenz pointed out that intraspecific selection can cause adverse specialization.

The so-called “third world countries” (or “developing” countries) are “backward”, and in order to “catch up” with Western countries, they need to follow the “Western” path, creating public institutions and copying the social relations of Western countries ( myth of development through imitation of the West). This position was criticized by C. Lévi-Strauss in his book “Structural Anthropology,” who points out that the current economic situation in the world is partly determined by the period of colonialism, the 16th-19th centuries, when the direct or indirect destruction of now “underdeveloped” societies became an important prerequisite for the development of Western civilization. This thesis is also criticized within the framework of the theory of “peripheral capitalism”. Samir Amin points out that the production apparatus in the “peripheral” countries does not follow the path taken by economically developed countries, and as capitalism develops, the polarization of the “periphery” and the “center” increases.

See also

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Notes

Literature

• Kara-Murza S. G.. - M.: Algorithm, 2002. - ISBN 5-9265-0046-5.
• Amalrik A. Will the USSR exist until 1984?
• Spengler O. Decline of Europe. T. 1. M., 1993.
• Gurevich P. S. Philosophy of culture. M., 1994.
• Troeltsch E. Historicism and its problems. M., 1994.
• Culture: Theories and problems / Ed. T. F. Kuznetsova. M., 1995.

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An excerpt characterizing Eurocentrism

– What did he tell you, Isidora? – Karaffa asked with some morbid interest.
– Oh, he talked about a lot of things, Holiness. I'll tell you sometime if you're interested. And now, with your permission, I would like to talk to my daughter. If, of course, you don’t mind... She has changed a lot over these two years... And I would like to get to know her...
– You’ll have time, Isidora! You will still have time for this. And a lot will depend on how you behave, my dear. In the meantime, your daughter will come with me. I will return to you soon, and I really hope that you will speak differently...
The icy horror of death crept into my tired Soul...
– Where are you taking Anna?! “What do you want from her, Your Holiness?” I asked, afraid to hear the answer.
– Oh, calm down, my dear, Anna is not heading to the basement yet, if that’s what you’re thinking. Before deciding anything, I first need to hear your answer... As I already said, everything depends on you, Isidora. Sweet dreams! And letting Anna go ahead, the crazy Karaffa left...
After waiting several very long minutes for me, I tried to mentally contact Anna. Nothing worked - my girl didn’t answer! I tried again and again - the result was the same... Anna did not respond. This simply couldn't happen! I knew she would definitely want to talk to me. We had to know what we would do next. But Anna didn't answer...
Hours passed in terrible excitement. I was literally falling off my feet... still trying to call my sweet girl. And then the North appeared...
“You’re trying in vain, Isidora.” He put his protection on Anna. I don’t know how to help you - she is unknown to me. As I already told you, it was given to Caraffa by our “guest” who came to Meteora. Sorry, I can't help you with this...
“Well, thank you for the warning.” And for coming, North.
He gently put his hand on my head...
- Rest, Isidora. Today you won't change anything. And tomorrow you may need a lot of strength. Rest, Child of Light... my thoughts will be with you...
I almost didn’t hear Sever’s last words, easily slipping into the ghostly world of dreams... where everything was gentle and calm... where my father and Girolamo lived... and where almost always everything was right and good... almost. ..

Stella and I were stunned into silence, deeply shocked by Isidora’s story... Of course, we were probably still too young to comprehend the full depth of the meanness, pain and lies that surrounded Isidora at that time. And probably our children's hearts were still too kind and naive to understand the horror of the test ahead of her and Anna... But something was already becoming clear even to us, so small and inexperienced. I already understood that what was presented to people as the truth did not mean at all that it was true, and could in fact turn out to be the most ordinary lie, for which, oddly enough, no one was going to punish those who invented it, and For some reason no one had to answer for her. People took everything for granted, for some reason everyone was completely happy with it, and nothing in our world was turned “upside down” by indignation. No one was going to look for the culprits, no one wanted to prove the truth, everything was calm and “calm”, as if there was a complete “calm” of contentment in our souls, not disturbed by crazy “seekers of truth”, and not disturbed by our fallen asleep, forgotten by everyone, human conscience ...
Isidora’s sincere, deeply sad story deadened our children’s hearts with pain, without even giving time to wake up... It seemed that there was no limit to the inhuman torment inflicted by the callous souls of the ugly executioners on this amazing and courageous woman!.. I was sincerely afraid and anxious, only just thinking about what awaited us at the end of her amazing story!..
I looked at Stella - my warlike friend was frightenedly huddling close to Anna, not taking her shocked, widened eyes off Isidora... Apparently, even she - so brave and not giving up - was stunned by human cruelty.
Yes, Stella and I probably saw more than other children at 5-10 years old. We already knew what loss was, we knew what pain meant... But we still had to go through a lot to understand even a small part of what Isidora felt now!.. And I only hoped that I would never have to experience something like this to really experience...
I looked in fascination at this beautiful, brave, amazingly gifted woman, unable to hide the sorrowful tears welling up in my eyes... How did “people” dare to call themselves PEOPLE, doing this to her?! How did the Earth even tolerate such criminal abomination, allowing itself to be trampled on without opening up its depths?!
Isidora was still far away from us, in her deeply wounding memories, and I honestly didn’t want her to continue telling the story any further... Her story tormented my childhood soul, forcing me to die a hundred times from indignation and pain. I wasn't ready for this. I didn’t know how to protect myself from such atrocity... And it seemed that if this whole heart-tearing story didn’t stop right away, I would simply die without waiting for its end. It was too cruel and beyond my normal childhood understanding...
But Isidora, as if nothing had happened, continued to talk further, and we had no choice but to plunge with her again into her distorted, but so high and pure, unlived earthly LIFE...
I woke up very late the next morning. Apparently, the peace that the North gave me with its touch warmed my tormented heart, allowing me to relax a little, so that I could meet the new day with my head held high, no matter what this day brings me... Anna still did not answer - apparently Karaffa firmly decided not to allow us to communicate until I break down, or until he has some great need for it.
Isolated from my sweet girl, but knowing that she was nearby, I tried to come up with different, wonderful ways to communicate with her, although in my heart I knew very well that I would not be able to find anything. Caraffa had his own reliable plan, which he was not going to change, in accordance with my desire. Rather, it’s the other way around - the more I wanted to see Anna, the longer he was going to keep her locked up, not allowing the meeting. Anna changed, becoming very confident and strong, which scared me a little, because, knowing her stubborn fatherly character, I could only imagine how far she could go in her stubbornness... I so wanted her to live!.. So that Caraffa’s executioner did not encroach on her fragile life, which had not even had time to fully bloom!.. So that my girl still has only the future...
There was a knock on the door - Caraffa was standing on the threshold...
– How did you rest, dear Isidora? I hope your daughter's proximity has not caused any trouble to your sleep?
– Thank you for your concern, Your Holiness! I slept surprisingly well! Apparently, it was Anna’s closeness that calmed me down. Will I be able to communicate with my daughter today?
He was radiant and fresh, as if he had already broken me, as if his biggest dream had already come true... I hated his confidence in himself and his victory! Even if he had every reason for this... Even if I knew that very soon, by the will of this crazy Pope, I would leave forever... I was not going to give in to him so easily - I wanted to fight. Until my last breath, until the last minute allotted to me on Earth...
- So what did you decide, Isidora? – Dad asked cheerfully. – As I told you earlier, this determines how soon you will see Anna. I hope you won't force me to take the most brutal measures? Your daughter deserves her life not to end so early, isn’t it? She really is very talented, Isidora. And I sincerely would not want to cause her harm.
– I thought you had known me long enough, Your Holiness, to understand that threats will not change my decision... Even the most terrible ones. I may die without being able to bear the pain. But I will never betray what I live for. Forgive me, Holiness.
Karaffa looked at me with all his eyes, as if he had heard something not entirely reasonable, which surprised him very much.
– And you won’t feel sorry for your beautiful daughter?! Yes, you are more fanatical than me, Madonna!..
Having exclaimed this, Caraffa stood up abruptly and left. And I sat there, completely numb. Not feeling my heart, and not being able to hold back my racing thoughts, as if all my remaining strength was spent on this short negative answer.
I knew that this was the end... That now he would take on Anna. And I wasn’t sure if I could survive to endure all this. I didn’t have the strength to think about revenge... I didn’t have the strength to think about anything at all... My body was tired and didn’t want to resist anymore. Apparently, this was the limit, after which a “different” life began.
I really wanted to see Anna!.. To hug her at least once goodbye!.. To feel her raging strength, and to tell her once again how much I love her...
And then, turning around at the noise at the door, I saw her! My girl stood straight and proud, like a stiff reed that an approaching hurricane is trying to break.
- Well, talk to your daughter, Isidora. Maybe she can bring at least some common sense into your lost mind! I give you one hour to meet. And try to come to your senses, Isidora. Otherwise, this meeting will be your last...
Karaffa did not want to play anymore. His life was put on the scales. Just like the life of my dear Anna. And if the second did not matter to him, then for the first (for his own) he was ready to do anything.
– Mommy!.. – Anna stood at the door, unable to move. “Mom, dear, how can we destroy him?.. We won’t be able to, Mommy!”
Jumping up from the chair, I ran to my only treasure, my girl, and, grabbing her in my arms, squeezed as hard as I could...
“Oh, mommy, you’ll choke me like that!” Anna laughed loudly.
And my soul absorbed this laughter, like a person sentenced to death absorbs the warm farewell rays of the already setting sun...

a cultural and philosophical position that considers European civilization and culture as the highest example and true source of all civilization and culture of mankind.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

EUROCENTRISM

a historical, cultural and geopolitical concept that postulates and substantiates the special status and significance of Western European values ​​in the world civilized and cultural processes. One of the first and most striking demonstrations of the influence and prevalence of such ideas were interstate and interregional clashes between supporters of various world religions. Thus, in the Middle Ages, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East became the scene of clashes between Catholicism and Orthodoxy and Christians and Muslims. The Catholic Church showed the greatest activity in upholding the ideals of Egypt. She initiated an armed struggle with the Muslim world for the liberation of the Iberian Peninsula and organized the crusades against Jerusalem. On her initiative, expansion into the Baltic states was carried out. This strategy eventually led to a fateful confrontation with the states of Eastern Europe, in which the latter won an important victory (1410, Battle of Grunwald). The idea of ​​E. was significantly updated under the influence of the threat posed by the Seljuk Turks, and subsequently by the Ottoman Empire. The era of great geographical discoveries allowed Europeans to discover many other peoples. However, an inadequate vision of history did not allow us to recognize the uniqueness of the culture of the latter, their achievements in the field of science and technology. The historical destiny of the local population was supposed to be slavery and colonial dependence. In the 19th century Changes occurred in Europeans' views of other peoples. This was facilitated by unique archaeological discoveries in the Middle East, India, China and America. The European consciousness was presented with facts that spoke of even more ancient civilizations than the European one. Although even they could not change the traditionalist point of view, a number of aspects in the relationships of Europeans with other peoples changed. E. was fueled by the obvious lag of non-European peoples in the level and pace of economic (especially industrial and military) development, which became the basis for the idea of ​​​​the existence of inferior races. At the beginning of the 20th century. The problem of leadership in the European and world community has become increasingly acute. It was resolved by a new split of Europe into communist and capitalist parts. An acute geopolitical and, in some cases, indirect military competition for leadership and influence in the world developed between them. In the wake of confrontation that led to the Second World War, Europe lost its role as a world leader and from the second half of the 20th century. the concept of E. began to acquire a double meaning. On the one hand, it reflected the concerns of Europeans who remained on the continent about the successes of their former compatriots in North America, Australia and South Africa. Japan also competed with old Europe. On the other hand, E.'s idea received new impetus thanks to new ideas about the global priority of the common values ​​of the “Anglo-Saxon” (Anglo-American) world. By the end of the 20th century. the processes of Western European integration took on real shape, leading to the “transparency” of national borders. The collapse of the socialist system in Europe has made it potentially possible to develop projects covering a single space from Washington to Vladivostok. The continental integration of Europe received new prospects due to the reunification of Germany, reforms in Central and Southern Europe, as well as in the Baltic states. Both of these trends within the framework of the European concept practically do not contradict each other, although they reflect some discrepancy between the economic interests of the New and Old Worlds. Western European culture, which largely determined the appearance of modern technogenic civilization, has not yet lost its position in the world in terms of the pace of renewal and influence. However, the main differences within Europe as a whole do not disappear. Its eastern part, as before, is wary of the not always indisputable values ​​of Western Europe, which is reflected in the ongoing discussion between Westerners and Slavophiles for almost 300 years, initiated in the sphere of Russian social thought by the reforms of Peter the Great. In Western Europe, dynamic economic development and a certain stabilization of socio-political problems made it possible by the turn of the millennium to practically realize the cultural and geopolitical ideal of a single European space.

Eurocentrism in the humanities

Eurocentrism was inherent in the European humanities from the very beginning. One of the factors that influenced (although not immediately) the departure from Eurocentrism and the acceptance of the entire real diversity of cultural worlds as equal participants in cultural dynamics was the cultural shock experienced by European culture when meeting with “alien” cultures in the process of colonial and missionary expansion XIV - XIX centuries.

French enlighteners put forward the idea of ​​expanding the geographical scope of history, recreating world history, and going beyond Eurocentrism. One of the first was Voltaire. Herder, an active student of non-European cultures, sought to outline the contributions of all peoples to cultural development.

However, at the next stage of development of European historical thought, in Hegel, it was the idea of ​​world history that turned out to be associated with the ideas of Eurocentrism - only in Europe does the world spirit achieve self-knowledge. A noticeable Eurocentrism was also characteristic of Marx's concept, which left open the question of the relationship between the Asian mode of production and the European ones - ancient, feudal and capitalist.

Historians, philosophers and sociologists of the 2nd half of the 19th century began to oppose the Eurocentrism that dominated the study of the world historical process. For example, Danilevsky criticized Eurocentrism in his theory of cultural-historical types.

In the historical science of the 20th century, the development of extensive non-European material revealed the hidden Eurocentrism of the usual idea of ​​history as a single world-historical process. Numerous alternative concepts have emerged. Spengler called the concept of world history the “Ptolemaic system of history,” based on Eurocentrism in understanding other cultures. Another example would be Toynbee's classification of civilizations. Peters also fought against Eurocentrism as an ideology that distorts the development of science in its favor and thereby imposes its proto-scientific and Eurocentric understanding of the world on other, non-European societies. Eurasians, for example, N. S. Trubetskoy, believed that overcoming Eurocentrism was necessary and positive. Eurocentrism was actively criticized in oriental studies and social anthropology in the study of primitive cultures (Rostow).

New ideological movements emerged in non-European cultures. Negritude in Africa arose in resistance to Eurocentrism and the policy of forced cultural assimilation as a component of political and social oppression, on the one hand, and against the racial-ethno-cultural (and then state-political) self-affirmation of colonized African-Negro people of origin (and then of all Negroid peoples. The philosophy of Latin American essence (Nuestro-Americanism) substantiated the decentralization of universal European discourse and refuted its claims to speak outside a specific cultural context. Opponents of Eurocentrism include Haya de la Torre, Ramos Magaña, and Leopoldo Sea.

Eurocentrism as an ideology

Eurocentrism has been and is used to justify the policies of colonialism. Eurocentrism is also often used in racism.

In modern Russia, the ideology of Eurocentrism is characteristic of a significant part of the “liberal” intelligentsia.

Eurocentrism has become the ideological background of perestroika and reforms in modern Russia.

Eurocentrism is based on several persistent myths, analyzed by Samir Amin and other researchers and brought together in the book by S. G. Kara-Murza “Eurocentrism - the Oedipus complex of the intelligentsia.”

The West is equivalent to Christian civilization. Within the framework of this thesis, Christianity is interpreted as a formative feature of Western man as opposed to the “Muslim East”. Samir Amin points out that the Holy Family and the Egyptian and Syrian Fathers of the Church were not Europeans. S. G. Kara-Murza clarifies that “today it is said that the West is not a Christian, but a Judeo-Christian civilization.” At the same time, Orthodoxy is called into question (for example, according to dissident historian Andrei Amalrik and many other Russian Westerners, Russia’s adoption of Christianity from Byzantium is a historical mistake).

The West is a continuation of ancient civilization. According to this thesis, within the framework of Eurocentrism, it is believed that the roots of modern Western civilization go back to Ancient Rome or Ancient Greece, the Middle Ages period is hushed up. At the same time, the process of cultural evolution can be thought of as continuous. Martin Bernal, cited by Samir Amin and S.G. Kara-Murza, showed that “Hellenomania” dates back to the romanticism of the 19th century, and the ancient Greeks thought of themselves as belonging to the cultural area of ​​​​the ancient East. In the book “Black Athena” M. Bernal also criticized the “Aryan” model of the origin of European civilization and instead put forward the concept of the hybrid Egyptian-Semitic-Greek foundations of Western civilization.

All modern culture, as well as science, technology, philosophy, law, etc., was created by Western civilization ( technological myth). At the same time, the contribution of other peoples is ignored or downplayed. This position was criticized by C. Lévi-Strauss, who pointed out that the modern industrial revolution is only a short-term episode in the history of mankind, and the contribution of China, India and other civilizations other than Western civilizations to the development of culture is very significant and cannot be ignored.

The capitalist economy, within the framework of the ideology of Eurocentrism, is declared “natural” and based on the “laws of nature” ( the myth of “homo economicus”, going back to Hobbes). This position underlies social Darwinism, which has been criticized by many authors. Hobbes's ideas about man's natural state under capitalism have been criticized by anthropologists, notably Marshall Sahlins. Ethologist Konrad Lorenz pointed out that intraspecific selection can cause adverse specialization.

The so-called “third world countries” (or “developing” countries) are “backward”, and in order to “catch up” with Western countries, they need to follow the “Western” path, creating public institutions and copying the social relations of Western countries ( myth of development through imitation of the West). This myth was criticized by C. Lévi-Strauss in his book “Structural Anthropology,” who points out that the current economic situation in the world is partly determined by the period of colonialism, the 16th-19th centuries, when the direct or indirect destruction of now “underdeveloped” societies became an important prerequisite for the development of Western civilization. This thesis is also criticized within the framework of the theory of “peripheral capitalism”. Samir Amin points out that the production apparatus in the “peripheral” countries does not follow the path taken by economically developed countries, and as capitalism develops, the polarization of the “periphery” and the “center” increases.

Notes

Literature

• Kara-Murza S. G. Eurocentrism - the Oedipus complex of the intelligentsia. - M.: Algorithm, 2002. - ISBN 5-9265-0046-5
• Amalrik A. Will the USSR exist until 1984?
• Spengler O. Decline of Europe. T. 1. M., 1993.
• Gurevich P. S. Philosophy of culture. M., 1994.
• Troeltsch E. Historicism and its problems. M., 1994.
• Culture: Theories and problems / Ed. T. F. Kuznetsova. M., 1995.

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Eurocentrism... Spelling dictionary-reference book

EUROCENTRISM (Europeanism) is a theoretical setting of modern concepts of socio-political development, which emphasizes the vanguard role of Europe in world development, turns the values ​​of European culture into a criterion for identification and... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

Cultural-philosophical and ideological attitude, according to the swarm, Europe with its inherent spiritual structure is the center of world culture and civilization. Already in Dr. In Greece, the distinction between East and West became a form of barbarian opposition... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies

Eurocentrism Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Eurocentrism noun, number of synonyms: 1 Eurocentrism (1) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Tr... Dictionary of synonyms

Eurocentrism- a cultural, philosophical and ideological attitude, according to which Europe is the center of world culture and civilization. The ancient Greeks were the first in Europe to oppose themselves to the East. They attributed the concept of the East to Persia and other lands that were located in the east of the Greek world. But already in Ancient Greece this concept was not just geographical; it had a broader meaning. The distinction between West and East became a form of designation of the opposition between Hellen and barbarian, “civilization” and “savagery.”
This distribution does not clearly express the value orientation: barbarian principles were decisively rejected in the name of the Hellenic. Such a view subsequently took shape in one of the traditions inherited by the social practice and spiritual life of ancient Europe.
Ancient philosophy was characterized by a sense of the unity of the human race. However, the scale of the global well-being was still insignificant. Other peoples, the “barbarians,” were not perceived as identical to the Greeks. But not all tribes belonged to the human race. “Paideia” (education) was thought of as a generic sign of humanity, into whose bosom not all peoples could enter.
According to the Italian philosopher R. Guardini, if you ask a medieval person what Europe is, he will point to the space where a person lives. This is the “circle of lands”, revived by the spirit of Christ and united by the union of the scepter and the church. Beyond this space lies an alien and hostile world - the Huns, the Saracens. However, Europe is not only a geographical complex, not only a conglomeration of peoples, but a living spiritual world. It, according to Guardini, is revealed in the history of Europe, with which the history of no other continent can be compared to this day.
The voyages and crusades that led to great geographical discoveries, the seizure of newly discovered lands and brutal colonial wars, translated into real historical acts, are manifestations of a Eurocentric point of view. According to it, Europe - the West with their historical structure, politics, religion, culture, art represent a single and unconditional value.
During the Middle Ages, economic, political and cultural ties between Europe and the rest of the world sharply declined, and Christianity became the most important factor in spiritual and political life. As a result, the East naturally fades into the background in the European mind, as something distant and purely exotic. However, the glorification of the West was contained in the European consciousness for many centuries.
In European philosophy, the idea of ​​the disunity of people was supported by the concept of the chosenness of the West. It was assumed that other peoples relate to humanity conditionally, since they have not yet reached the necessary cultural and civilizational level. Of course, they are walking along the road of progress. However, at the same time, the people of many countries are living yesterday and the day before yesterday in Europe. They, even climbing the socio-historical ladder, have not yet been assessed from the position of human conciliarity.
The idea of ​​Eurocentrism, although it carried the emphasis on the East, was at the same time hiddenly revived by the search for the generic principles of humanity. She proceeded from the idea that all peoples would follow Western paths and find unity. In this sense, the idea of ​​the East as a zone of “underdeveloped” humanity served that universal scheme, which, while being preserved, could at the same time be filled with completely different content at different times and in different circumstances. The newest Western philosophy, the art of modernism, the youth counterculture of the 60s, absorbed oriental elements, trying to correlate and compare themselves with the culture of the East.
Certain elements of the “other” artistic paradigm were indeed assimilated, for example, European musical creativity, although this assimilation was not recognized in Europe as the result of a dialogue of cultures. In the era of Baroque and Classicism, Europeans generally did not show any noticeable interest in elements of other musical thinking. It is clear that Eastern themes were present in literature, drama, and philosophical texts. The images of eastern khans, Turkish beauties, and fierce Janissaries attracted the attention of writers and composers, but the image of the East was extremely conventional.
For the ideologists of the bourgeoisie, which was formed in the West, culture was synonymous with “education.” As for the “savage” peoples, they were assessed as “Europeans, undetected.” In its theoretical constructions, rationalism of the 17th-18th centuries. invariably relied on the example of “savages” who lived in an “unspoiled” state, and was guided by the concept of “natural human properties.” Hence the frequent appeal of enlighteners to the East and, in general, to cultures not spoiled by European civilization.
As musicologist V. Konen writes, “it was not so much a disdainful attitude towards blacks as the peculiarities of the artistic psychology of the 17th, 18th and first half of the 19th centuries that prevented people of Western education from noticing African-American music, hearing its unique beauty, and feeling its sound logic. Let us remember that in the horizons of the generations that were formed during the Renaissance, there was no place not only for the “eastern”, i.e. non-European art (we do not mean exotic here, but the music of the East in its true sense). However, the science of the largest artistic phenomena that formed on the cultural soil of Europe itself also fell out.”
Belief in the progress of human knowledge, dating back to the Age of Enlightenment, reinforced the idea of ​​the unidirectional, monolinear movement of history. Progress was thought of by the enlighteners as the gradual penetration of European civilization into all regions of the world. The impulse of the gradual movement among the enlighteners was logically continuous, and was interpreted by them as the final goal.
Voltaire and Montesquieu wrote about the movement of all peoples into a single world history. And this movement gave rise to the important idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe search for the original universal culture. It was argued that the various peoples were not divided spiritually and religiously. They had common roots, but the single culture subsequently split into many independent areas. The search for common sources took many, many years in science.
These searches yielded rather ambiguous results and raised new questions. Thus, if Herder saw the eastern world as the embodiment of the patriarchal principle, then Hegel already tried to raise the question of why the eastern peoples remained outside the main line of history. In his work “Philosophy of History” he tried to reveal the picture of the development of the spirit, the historical sequence of individual stages. This is how the “Iran - India - Egypt” scheme was born.
This approach to assessing social development subsequently began to degenerate into an apologetic, essentially “progressive” concept with its characteristic idea of ​​science (and then technology, computer science) as the optimal means of solving any human problems and achieving harmony in the world. ways of streamlining a rationally designed world order. It was believed that Western culture never absorbed all the value that the East could give. Moreover, a hypothesis arises that nomadic Indo-European peoples invaded China, India and the West from Central Asia at the dawn of history. The meeting of different cultures allegedly gave birth to European civilization, enriched by contacts of different religions and different cultural orientations.
However, along with this in the 20th century. A crisis of Eurocentrism was maturing in European consciousness. The European enlightened world tried to understand: it is legitimate to consider the European idea as a universal one. A. Schopenhauer refused to see world history as something systematic and integral, and warned against attempting to “organically construct” it. O. Spengler assessed the scheme of Eurocentrism - from antiquity to the Middle Ages and then to the New Age - as meaningless. In his opinion, Europe is unjustifiably becoming the center of gravity of the historical system.
Spengler noted that with the same right, a Chinese historian could, in turn, construct a world history in which the Crusades and the Renaissance, Caesar and Frederick the Great, would be passed over in silence as events devoid of significance. Spengler called outdated the scheme familiar to Western Europeans, according to which highly developed cultures revolve around Europe. Later, Lévi-Strauss, while exploring ancient history, expressed the opinion that it was Western culture that dropped out of world history.
In general, the Eurocentric concept has not lost its status. The exaltation of the reasonable, rational “Hellenic” principle, which took shape even in the philosophical classics, as opposed to the spontaneity and empiricism of other cultures, as well as the stereotypical idea of ​​technical civilization, actively contributed to the formation of various modern theories. They, in particular, found support in M. Weber’s development of the principle of rationality as the main principle in his philosophy of history.
It was Weber who most consistently considered rationality as the historical fate of European civilization. He tried to explain why the formal reason of science and Roman law turned into the life philosophy of an entire era, an entire civilization
The cultural-centric development of the theory of Eurocentrism was consistently carried out by the German theologian and cultural philosopher E. Troeltsch. In his opinion, world history is the history of Europeanism. Europeanism was considered by him as a great historical individual, representing the subject of history for Europeans. Europeanism is defined where it, in the process of great Anglo-Saxon and Latin colonization, spread over most of the globe. Only Eurocentrism allows us to talk about the common history of humanity and progress.