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ISSEI
International Society for the Study of European Ideas
Ancient Greeks Impact
on Western Identity
Chaired by Helmut Heit (Section
I & V)
The ancient Greek philosophical, scientific, political and cultural
achievements are held to be one important inheritance of the West. It was a
central aspect of Western identity to be distinguished from other cultures
by the fact that it has science, and science was meant to be a Greek
invention. Since the experience of post-colonialism and the increasing
knowledge of Babylonian and Egyptian scientific achievements, historians of
Western philosophy and culture became more aware of the certain euro-centrism
of this traditional view. These changes led to a discourse on the relation
between Greeks and Barbarians as well as on the Greeks and the West, which
is also a hidden discourse on Western identity. This modern discourse,
which has moved from a moderate ancient Greek ethnocentrism to modern
euro-centrism, is connected with Antiquity via two claims: 1. It was in
ancient Greece, where a cultural transformation of universal or at least
outstanding importance took place. 2. The West inherits this Greek achievement
due to a continuous tradition of these beginnings. Both claims were
challenged by several critics such as Karl Jaspers' concept of an axial
period or, more recently, Martin Bernal’s Black Athena.
In our workshop we are going to discuss these two claims by
examining the positions of its opponents as well as of its defenders: Is
the idea of a Greek inheritance just a Narrative of Modernity? The
panel is open to papers on the relation between Greeks and Barbarians, on
the impact of non-Greek cultures on the so-called Greek transition from
myth to reason, or on the questions regarding the supposedly continuous
tradition from the ancient philosophy to modern Western science.
Please sent a one-page proposal and a short CV (email preferred) to:
Helmut Heit
University of Hannover
Zentrale Einrichtung für Wissenschaftstheorie und –ethik
Im Moore 21
D- 30167 Hannover/Germany
Email: Helmut.Heit@web.de
Home: http://sun1.rrzn.uni-hannover.de/zeww/
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