Uniqueness of Western Civ.
Th ere is, indeed, an unavoidable paradox
contained in the very historical origins of cultural relativism, for
its roots lie in the uniquely Western idea that there is a universal
humanity. Starting with the Stoic cosmopolitan idea that each person
is a member of a common cosmos, through to the Christian idea that
all humans irrespective of local, ethnic or cultural origin were created
by the same God, to the 16th century idea that humans have a “natural”
rights-bearing disposition to life, liberty, and dignity, the West has
long cultivated the notion of a universal humanity (Headley 2008). Th e
anthropological concern with the humane treatment of primitive peoples
can no more be disassociated from this uniquely Western history
than the anthropological emphasis on the modern scientifi c study of
primitive cultures.
----
Adam and Eve were happy in paradise but they
had not yet asked the reason why they were happy, what the good life
was. Th ey were not human, for they had not achieved anything, had
not worked, and had not disciplined their basic instincts. Paradise is
for beasts.
----
What humanitarian materialists have ignored - in their emotional
attachment to the “sharing and generosity” of primitive peoples - is
that the rise of chiefl y authority and the monopolization of force by
states “promote[d] happiness,” to use the words of Jared Diamond, “by
maintaining public order and curbing violence”(1999: 277). Diamond,
a geographical determinist with strong sympathies for primitive lifestyles,
correctly recognizes that the maintenance of order and the settling
of disputes is “a big underappreciated advantage of centralized
societies over noncentralized ones” (277). One could go further and
argue that the energies that had hitherto been expended in prolonged
bloody feuds could now be redirected - aft er the consolidation of
authority at the top - against other peoples in the pursuit of conquest
and glory. Th e worldly success, the empire-making, the grandeur we
associate with Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia, would have been a historical
impossibility in the state of nature. Th e expansion, refi nement, and
enrichment of man’s distinctive intellectual capacities, the realization
of the potentialities of brain power developed by biological evolution,
would have remained hidden without the rise of stratifi cation, elites,
and the invention of writing.
----
One hardly need accept Malthus's idea that the principal cause of workers' poverty lay in lack of self-control in the propagation of children to recognize that there is a fundamental moral distinction between rational control of the rate of fertility and rational control of the rate of female infanticide.
contained in the very historical origins of cultural relativism, for
its roots lie in the uniquely Western idea that there is a universal
humanity. Starting with the Stoic cosmopolitan idea that each person
is a member of a common cosmos, through to the Christian idea that
all humans irrespective of local, ethnic or cultural origin were created
by the same God, to the 16th century idea that humans have a “natural”
rights-bearing disposition to life, liberty, and dignity, the West has
long cultivated the notion of a universal humanity (Headley 2008). Th e
anthropological concern with the humane treatment of primitive peoples
can no more be disassociated from this uniquely Western history
than the anthropological emphasis on the modern scientifi c study of
primitive cultures.
----
Adam and Eve were happy in paradise but they
had not yet asked the reason why they were happy, what the good life
was. Th ey were not human, for they had not achieved anything, had
not worked, and had not disciplined their basic instincts. Paradise is
for beasts.
----
What humanitarian materialists have ignored - in their emotional
attachment to the “sharing and generosity” of primitive peoples - is
that the rise of chiefl y authority and the monopolization of force by
states “promote[d] happiness,” to use the words of Jared Diamond, “by
maintaining public order and curbing violence”(1999: 277). Diamond,
a geographical determinist with strong sympathies for primitive lifestyles,
correctly recognizes that the maintenance of order and the settling
of disputes is “a big underappreciated advantage of centralized
societies over noncentralized ones” (277). One could go further and
argue that the energies that had hitherto been expended in prolonged
bloody feuds could now be redirected - aft er the consolidation of
authority at the top - against other peoples in the pursuit of conquest
and glory. Th e worldly success, the empire-making, the grandeur we
associate with Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia, would have been a historical
impossibility in the state of nature. Th e expansion, refi nement, and
enrichment of man’s distinctive intellectual capacities, the realization
of the potentialities of brain power developed by biological evolution,
would have remained hidden without the rise of stratifi cation, elites,
and the invention of writing.
----
One hardly need accept Malthus's idea that the principal cause of workers' poverty lay in lack of self-control in the propagation of children to recognize that there is a fundamental moral distinction between rational control of the rate of fertility and rational control of the rate of female infanticide.