DOCSLIB.ORG

La Comunicación Intercultural

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
La Comunicación Intercultural 1 © PUOC, S.L. Comunicar para triunfar Somos diferentes, comunicamos de forma diferente: la comunicación intercultural Somos diferentes, comunicamos de forma diferente: la comunicación intercultural En pocos años hemos podido asistir a numerosos cambios tanto tecnológicos como sociales. Uno de los más importantes es lo que se denomina globalización. No es aquí en este curso el discutir sobre las ventajas o inconvenientes de este importante fenómeno. Hemos de analizar el impacto de la globalización en la comunicación humana y como nos preparamos para ello. La mayor parte de nosotros tiene que realizar contactos con personas de otras lenguas y culturas. Lo cierto es que nadie nos ha enseñado como manejarnos en este contexto. Tampoco podemos afirmar que tengamos al alcance de la mano la suficiente investigación y los análisis de métodos que nos permitan aplicar fórmulas probadas. Somos seguramente los primeros humanos confrontados con la globalización y de algún modo pagamos el precio de ser pioneros. El hecho de tener que viajar más, el aumento de trabajadores inmigrantes, las multinacionales, etc. nos impulsan hacia un marco comunicacional complejo que sólo se puede manejar si se dispone o adquiere una serie de actitudes abiertas y habilidades específicas. Este capítulo, dedicado a la comunicación intercultural podría ser en sí mismo un curso, dada la complejidad de la materia y la necesidad de ir a fondo de los temas. Es por ello que el objetivo de este capítulo se limita a sensibilizar y dar pistas de actuación en el área comunicativa. No podemos ir más lejos, aunque creo que si lo conseguimos es un paso importante en la dirección correcta. Hay dos niveles de comunicación intercultural: § Nuestras relaciones exteriores. § Nuestras relaciones internas en nuestras organizaciones. 2 © PUOC, S.L. Comunicar para triunfar Somos diferentes, comunicamos de forma diferente: la comunicación intercultural Los perjuicios Los perjuicios son el cáncer de la comunicación intercultural. El juzgar por adelantado, el tomar posiciones sin disponer de la información suficiente etc. nos impide establecer procesos comunicacionales positivos y productivos. Las perturbaciones de la capacidad humana de juzgar constituyen uno de los más antiguos problemas filosóficos. Una sistematización de las razones de estas perturbaciones que ha tenido gran influencia sobre el pensamiento posterior, ha sido realizada por Francis Bacon en el siglo XVII. Está contenida en su obra principal, el “Novum organum scientiarum” y es conocida generalmente con el nombre de “doctrina de los ídolos”. Bacon distingue cuatro “ídolos” que poseen el “espíritu humano”: a) los idola tribus, b) los idola specus, c) los idola fori, d) los idola theatri. Los idola tribus son causados por deficiencias en la percepción y el pensamiento propias de la especie humana. En su opinión, se trata evidentemente de dificultades del conocimiento por principio insuperables que se fundan en la naturaleza de las facultades humanas de percibir y pensar, y que tienen que atribuirse en última instancia a un defecto de la especie. Los idola specus son perturbaciones del juicio que se general en el transcurso del desarrollo afectivo e intelectual del individuo, en su formación individual a lo largo de su historia social personal. Son causados, por una parte, por el temperamento particular, por la “naturaleza particular” y “peculiar” de cada uno, y por otra, por factores sociales como la “educación” y la “ relación con los otros”, por los libros que ha leído y por las “ autoridades que respeta y admira”. Las perturbaciones del juicio provocadas de este modo pues, en principio, corregibles con mejoras del sistema educativo, con la transmisión de hipótesis más probadas y con la aplicación de métodos terapéuticos. Los idola fori son causados por el proceso de formación de la especie, por los errores no corregidos que han surgido en el transcurso de su historia. Bacon los llama idolos fori ( ídolos del mercado) “ porque los hombres se unen entre sí por medio del habla, pero las palabras se atribuyen a las cosas según la concepción de la multitud”. Estas palabras “ ejercen violencia sobre el entendimiento, perturban todo, y extravían a los hombres en disputas y ficciones innumerables y vacías”. Se llega pues a perturbaciones del juicio porque los hombres las recogen acríticamente, en las oraciones que pronuncian, expresiones ya hechas, porque están atados emocionalmente al empleo de determinadas palabras y se resisten, por lo tanto , a una reconstrucción crítica de su significado, o también porque se sirven, por razones tácticas, de un modo de expresión impreciso. La eliminación, en principio posible, de los problemas que surgen de este modo, será sin embargo difícil, si no imposible, cuando un grupo o individuo se resisten, a causa de su lazo afectivo con determinadas palabras o por motivos tácticos dependientes de intereses, a una normalización o estandarización interpersonal de los significados de las palabras utilizadas en los diálogos. 3 © PUOC, S.L. Comunicar para triunfar Somos diferentes, comunicamos de forma diferente: la comunicación intercultural La última fuente de juicios falsos citada por Bacon son los idola theatri, “los ídolos que han sido introducidos en el alma humana por las variadas tesis de la filosofía y por las falsas reglas de la demostración”. Bacon los remite sobre todo a errores de la “filosofía general” y a “algunos principios y tesis de las ciencias particulares que han alcanzado validez sólo gracias a la costumbre, la credulidad y la negligencia”. Interpretándolo de nuevo modernamente, Bacon se dirige en esta ocasión contra prejuicios en la teoría de la ciencia y contra el pluralismo metódico que resulta de ellos en cada una de las ciencias. Existen intentos de superar esta postura “ positivista” y dogmática de la teoría de la ciencia denominada en ocasiones “ cientifismo” (Habermas); estos intentos todavía no han logrado, sin embrago, imponerse definitivamente, entre otros motivos, quizás porque no ha podido resolverse aún el problema que está a su base de la justificación “ transubjetiva” de las normas metódicas o prácticas. (P. Lorenzen “Mormative,Logic and Ethics; Mannheim” 1966) En nuestra práctica cotidiana podemos encontrarnos con diferentes tipos de perjuicios, que los hemos clasificado en cuatro categorías: Raciales Son las creencias y opiniones acerca de personas que tienen una procedencia racial diferentes de la nuestra ( gitanos, marroquíes, indios, etc) . Por el sólo hecho de tener unos determinados rasgos físicos se extrapolan una serie de conductas y comportamientos estereotipados . Un ejemplo histórico son los negros en los EEUU. Hoy en día se contemplan dentro del concepto de racismo , la xenofobia, el anti- semitismo y la islamofobia. Geográficos Cuando los juicios y opiniones se basan en la procedencia geográfica de los individuos o de las comunidades. Los alemanes , los franceses, los americanos etc. Género Los juicios y las opiniones basadas en el sexo del individuo. Las mujeres han sido y son ene general víctimas de este tipo de perjuicio. Los homosexuales y lesbianas también se incluyen en este capítulo Estatus Se basan en la procedencia social del individuo. En ciertas sociedades existen códigos que permiten identificar esta procedencia, como puede ser el acento, la forma de vestir, etc. En sociedades como en la India, las castas aún son de actualidad. Los perjuicios nos impiden comunicar adecuadamente y en especial impiden que la comunicación se convierta en acción, ya que en general paralizan o destruyen las posibilidades de acción positivas. 4 © PUOC, S.L. Comunicar para triunfar Somos diferentes, comunicamos de forma diferente: la comunicación intercultural Tener en cuenta las diferencias Hemos hablado de perjuicios y su nocividad para el proceso comunicacional. Al contrario, el respeto a las diferencias es un elemento clave de este proceso. Hemos reiterado que cada uno somos diferentes y que al mismo tiempo cada individuo tiene una o más culturas de referencia. Es por ello importante de plantearnos como nos comunicamos en contextos culturales diferentes al nuestro, ya sea por entrar en contacto con otra sociedad ya sea porque estos individuos se han incorporado a la nuestra. El debate no ha hecho más que empezar. Siguiendo los medios de comunicación no podemos obviar que nuestra sociedad tiene dificultades en asimilar y compartir con aquellas personas que han decidido emigrar de su país de origen y buscar una vida mejor en el nuestro. Más allá del debate político y social, hemos de intentar manejar estas nuevas situaciones complejas y por ello ricas a la vez en nuestras comunicaciones interculturales. Para poder desarrollar este tema trabajaremos sobre el artículo siguiente que a mi juicio en la actualidad es uno de los mejores trabajos de investigación que disponemos: Elementos para una comunicación intercultural. Miquel Rodrigo Alsina. Profesor de la facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Este artículo va a ser el texto de base para el debate que organizaremos en el momento apropiado. De forma opcional para aquellos/as que quieran profundizar más el tema encontraréis otro artículo: Espacios de la comunicación intercultural. Rico Lie Research Centre Communication for Social Change (CSC) Universidad Católica de Bruselas (K.U. Brussel) Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, Departamento de Comunicación. Este documento es una versión adaptada del capítulo 6 del libro Spaces of Intercultural Communication. An Interdisciplinary Introduction to Communication, Culture and Globalizing/Localizing Identities (en prensa en la serie de la Asociación Internacional de Estudios en Comunicación Social (AIECS), Hampton Press) 23 Conferencia AIECS, Barcelona, del 21 al 26 de julio de 2002. Las diferentes culturas en el contexto Europeo Probablemente en vuestra vida profesional tenéis contactos con otros profesionales de otros países de Europa. Si antes hemos hablado de perjuicios y de lo negativo que es el hecho de juzgar a una persona por el sólo hecho de pertenecer a un determinado país, ello no obsta que existan diferencias reales entre cada uno de ellos que hay que tener en cuenta cuando nos comunicamos con ellos.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Francis Bacon´S Philosophy Under Educational Perspective
    International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 3 No. 17; September 2013 Francis Bacon´S Philosophy under Educational Perspective Gustavo Araújo Batista – PhD Docent at Master Degree Program University of Uberaba - Brazil Abeuntstudia in mores. Francis Bacon Abstract This article has as main objective to make a concise approach about Francis Bacon’s (1561-1626) philosophy, dimensioning it inside educational area. It will be done a summary explanation of his historical context (Renaissance), of some of his works and of some of the main topics of his philosophy, demonstrating its applicability to pedagogy. By developing a conceptual and contextual approach, this study has adopted as its theoretical-methodological reference the historical-dialectical materialism, according to Lucien Goldmann (1913-1970), appointing as main result the alert done by Bacon in relation to knowledge usefulness in order to improve human being´s lifetime, this knowledge that, identifying itself to power, it allows to mankind to dominate natural world and, equally, to itself, wining, so, its own weakness and limitations, because its own ignorance is the root of the evils of which suffer, as well as the material and spiritual difficulties in the presence of which it founds itself, reason for which education, by adopting that conception as one of its foundation, there will be thought and practiced in a way to be aware to the responsibility that knowledge brings with itself. Keywords: Education. Francis Bacon. Philosophy. Science. Introduction This text has as its objective to deal with, summarily, the thought of the English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626), appointing, simultaneously, its convergences to educational field.
    [Show full text]
  • Annotated Bibliography, Footwear and Tire Tread Analysis
    November 16, 2011 SWGTREAD response to questions submitted from the NSTC Subcommittee on Forensic Science Research Testing Development and Evaluation Interagency Working Group. QUESTION 1 What literature exist that addresses the number of characteristics/identifying marks required to render a conclusion? No literature/studies could be found which specifically addresses the number of characteristics and/or identifying marks necessary to render a conclusion relating to footwear and/or tire track evidence. Impressions evidence practitioners agree that rendering opinions relative to footwear and/or tire track examinations must be based upon a combination of both class and individual characteristics. “Class characteristics of footwear and tires result from repetitive, controlled processes that are typically mechanical, such as those used to manufacture items in quantity”.1 Although defined similarly by various authors, Bodziak describes footwear class characteristics as “an intentional or unavoidable characteristic that repeats during the manufacturing process and is shared by one or more other shoes.”2 Individual characteristics are defined by Bodziak as “individual identifying characteristics that result when something is randomly added to or taken away from a shoe outsole that either causes or contributes to making that shoe outsole unique.”3 Often referred to as accidental characteristics, they can include cuts, scratches, gouges, holes, cracks, tears caused by extreme wear, or random inclusions that may result from manufacturing, such as bubbles, and other items or substances subsequently introduced to the outsole or tread, such as rocks, chewing gum, nails, tacks or small twigs. Footwear and tire tread examination practitioners agree that a specific number of individual or random characteristics are not necessarily needed to render an opinion.
    [Show full text]
  • The Memory of God. Hans Blumenberg's Philosophy
    The Memory of God Hans Blumenberg's Philosophy of Religion Rasmussen, Ulrik Houlind Publication date: 2009 Document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Document license: CC BY-NC-ND Citation for published version (APA): Rasmussen, U. H. (2009). The Memory of God: Hans Blumenberg's Philosophy of Religion. Københavns Universitet: Publikationer fra Det teologiske Fakultet. Download date: 07. apr.. 2020 The Memory of God Hans Blumenberg’s Philosophy of Religion Was ist eigentlich Aura? Ein sonderbares Gespinst aus Raum und Zeit: einmalige Erscheinung einer Ferne, so nah sie sein mag. Walter Benjamin Ph.D.‐Thesis by Ulrik Houlind Rasmussen Theological Faculty, University of Copenhagen Supervisor: Prof., Dr. Theol. Arne Grøn July 2009 The Memory of God Hans Blumenberg’s Philosophy of Religion Publikationer fra Det Teologiske Fakultet 9 Licensed under CreativeCommons Ulrik Houlind Rasmussen ISBN 978-87-91838-17-0 (print) ISBN 978-87-93361-37-9 (pdf) Trykning og indbindning: Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultets ReproCenter Københavns Universitet 2009 Udgivet af: Det Teologisk Fakultet Københavns Universitet Karen Blxens Plads 16 2300 København S www.teol.ku.dk Contents PRELUDE: DIFFICULTIES REMEMBERING TO FORGET .................................................................................. ‐ 5 ‐ 1.E TH MAIN THEME OF THIS DISSERTATION ................................................................................................. ‐ 7 ‐ 1.1 THE DEATH(S) OF GOD........................................................................................................................................‐
    [Show full text]
  • Plagiat Merupakan Tindakan Tidak Terpuji
    PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI MASOCHISM AS APPEARED IN DAN BROWN’S THE DA VINCI CODE A THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Saarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education By Gregoria Mayang Dwiandhesti 051214087 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI MASOCHISM AS APPEARED IN DAN BROWN’S THE DA VINCI CODE A THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Saarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education By Gregoria Mayang Dwiandhesti 051214087 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011 i PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI ii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI iii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Creativity is unusual stuff. It deranges. It’s subversive. It mistrusts what it sees, what it hears. It dares to doubt. It acts even it errs. It infiltrates pre‐conceived notions. It rattles established certitudes. It incessantly invents new ways, new vocabularies. It provokes and changes point of view. ‐Anonymous‐ This thesis is devoted especially to my beloved family and those who have introduced me to the wonderful life iv PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should. Yogyakarta, 9 March 2011 The Writer Gregoria Mayang Dwiandhesti 051214087 v PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI ABSTRACT Dwiandhesti, Gregoria Mayang.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIT 1 – History of English Literature – SHS1105
    SCHOOL OF SCIENCE & HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH UNIT 1 – History of English Literature – SHS1105 1 ELIZABETHAN PERIOD & SHAKESPEARE PERIOD Edmund Spenser: Edmund Spenser (ca. 1552-1599) ranks as the fore most English poet of the 16th century. Famous as the author of the unfinished epic poem The Faerie Queene, he is the poet of an ordered yet passionate Elizabethan world. He was deeply affected by Irish faerie mythology, which he knew from his home at Kilcolman and possibly from his Irish wife Elizabeth Boyle. His genocidal tracts against Gaelic culture were war propaganda. His house (ruins remain) was burned to the ground during the war, causing him to flee Ireland. Edmund Spenser was born in East Smithfield, London, around the year 1552, though there is some ambiguity as to the exact date of his birth. As a young boy, he was educated in London at the Merchant Taylors' School and matriculated as a sizar at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Spenser‘s main poetical works are: The Shepher d‘s Calendar (1579) Amoretti (1595), a collection of eighty eight Petrarchan sonnets Epithalamion (1959), a magnificent ode written on the occasion of his marriage with Elizabeth Boyle Prothalamion (1596), an ode on marriage Astrophel (1596), an elegy on the death of Sir Philip Sidney Four Hymns (1576) written to glorify love and homour The Faerie Queen (1589 –90). Spenser matriculated at the University of Cambridge on May 20, 1569. Ten years later he published his first publicly-released poetic work, The Sheapheards' Calendar, to positive reviews. He then began work on his magnum opus, The Faerie Queene, publishing the first three of the projected twelve books in 1590.
    [Show full text]
  • Saddam, Phone Your Mom!
    2450 30 Oct 90 "SADDAM, PHONE YOUR MOM!" OR ELLIOTT THINKSHEETS THE ANTIBIBLICAL MYTH OF PRIMORDIAL GYNECOCENTRIC PEACE 309 L.Eliz.Dr., Craigville, MA 02636 Phone 508.775.8008 Noncommercial reproduction permitted An irreverent (to Saddam Hussein), uproarious current popsong spoofs (1) SH & (2) the ever more widely held dysfunctional no- tion that the world, if taken away from the boys & given to the girls, would be more peaceful (a no less romantic, though slightly more intelligent, variant of the latter being that it'd be more peaceful if the world were taken away from the boys & given to the girls & boys [usually, in that order] together). If we could just get Saddam to phone his Mom, she'd yell "You getthehellouta Kuwait RIGHT NOW!" & (so goes the myth) he'd do it! A more nuanced, sophisticated version is that though she wouldn't do it, that would only be because her natural anti-war psyche had been corrupted by the androcentrism prevailing in her culture &, indeed, in all cultures for the past 5,000 - year "detour" of natural human evolution.... This Thinksheet is a bibliocritical review of Riane [Tennenhaus] Eisler's THE CHALICE & THE BLADE: OUR HISTORY, OUR FUTURE (H&R187188), a radical feminist antibiblical rewrite of history. Most radical feminist literature I only glance at / read reviews of, but I try to give a thorough read to any piece that is overtly antibiblical: that's why I call this review "bibliocritical." 1 A refugee from Hitler's spectacularly-disastrously androcentric Europe, perhaps she can be forgiven her spectacularly-disastrously gynecocentricity, which she labors to defend against the charge of gynarchy (usu.
    [Show full text]
  • Francis Bacon – A.S
    Prof. Monti – classe IV – Francis Bacon – a.s. 2016/2017 Francis Bacon 1561 - 1626 1. IL PROFETA DELLA TECNICA Se Galileo ha chiarito il metodo della ricerca scientifica, Bacon ha intravisto per primo e in modo chiaro il potere che la scienza offre sulla natura e, in questo senso, l’ha concepita come orientata alla realizzazione del regnum hominis. Nato a Londra, studiò a Cambridge e trascorse poi alcuni anni a Parigi al seguito dell’Ambasciatore d’Inghilterra. Di ritorno in patria volle intraprendere la carriera politica, ma non poté ottenere incarichi importanti sino a che visse la regina Elisabetta. Salito al trono Giacomo I, nel 1603, Bacon seppe sfruttare l’appoggio del favorito del re, Lord Buckingham, per ottenere cariche e onori. Venne così nominato avvocato generale (1607), poi procuratore generale (1613), infine Lord Guardasigilli (1617) e Lord Cancelliere (1618). Divenne anche Barone di Verulamio e Visconte di S. Albano. Quando Giacomo I, nel 1621, dovette convocare il parlamento per chiedere l’imposizione di nuove tasse, Bacon fu accusato di avere accettato doni in denaro nell’esercizio delle sue funzioni e si ammise colpevole. A questo punto Bacon decise di ritirarsi dalla vita politica e trascorse negli studi gli ultimi anni della sua vita. La sua carriera politica, come abbiamo visto, fu quella di un cortigiano abile e senza scrupoli. Uomo amante del denaro e della bella vita, ebbe una concezione altissima dell’utilità e del valore della scienza in servizio dell’uomo e dei suoi bisogni. Tutte le sue opere, non a caso, tendono a illustrare il progetto di una ricerca scientifica che, portando il metodo sperimentale in tutti i campi della realtà faccia di questa il “dominio dell’uomo”.
    [Show full text]
  • Music and Knowledge
    Music and Knowledge Music and Knowledge A Performer’s Perspective Per Dahl University of Stavanger, Norway SENSE PUBLISHERS ROTTERDAM / BOSTON / TAIPEI A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-94-6300-885-3 (paperback) ISBN 978-94-6300-886-0 (hardback) ISBN 978-94-6300-887-7 (e-book) Published by: Sense Publishers, P.O. Box 21858, 3001 AW Rotterdam, The Netherlands https://www.sensepublishers.com/ All chapters in this book have undergone peer review. Printed on acid-free paper All rights reserved © 2017 Sense Publishers No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ix List of Figures xv Part I: Music and Knowledge Chapter 1: A Musician’s Store of Knowledge 3 Introduction 3 Practice, Practice, Practice 3 Dreyfus’ Model of Skill Acquisition 4 What about the Genes? 10 Chapter 2: Music Performance as Creative Practice 13 The Musical Performance 13 The Creative Practice 16 Chapter 3: The Rise and Fall of Literacy in Classical Music 25 Introduction 25 The Rise of Literacy in Music 25 The Work of Art 27 The Classical Music 30 The Fall of Literacy 33 Chapter 4: Music Reading as Eye Movement 39 Background 39 The Music Reading
    [Show full text]
  • Iv History of Scientific Method
    IV THE PLACE OF FRANCIS BACON IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD RANCIS BACON has been popularly accounted as the F father of modern ‘science and its method. Unfor- tunately, that sort of title has been given to many people. In fact, it must be remarked that on the tree of knowledge, considered as a family tree, many a “bar sinister” is hung; for it is rare in science that the son knows his own father. Even where parentage may be conceivable, an oblique descent is so much more the rule than the exception, that it is quite possible that we can find a more appropriate name for the relation which Bacon bore to the several scientific disciplines. Let us spend a few moments in investigating this problem of paternity. The question is not one of the importance of Bacon, but rather more definite. It may be stated as fol- lows: If there had been no Bacon, would the future of science have been essentially different, or would its develop- ment have been materially slower? I think we may give the negative answer to both these questions. Let us consider, therefore, the states of various modern sciences, and see if they may be traced back more or less directly to a source. Probably we can all agree that up to the middle of the last century, at least, the most important body of natural science was that of physics and astronomy, with its mathe- matical systematization. Along this branch the lines of descent seem straighter than elsewhere. Two modern 73 74 Lectures on Francis Bacon names are characteristic of it more than any others.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter Ii the Enlightenment’S Critique of Tradition
    CHAPTER II THE ENLIGHTENMENT’S CRITIQUE OF TRADITION Suspicion of the authority of tradition is the very signature of the Age of Reason, and particularly, of the Enlightenment. In the last chapter we saw how the suspicion to which tradition was subjected led to a profound misunderstanding of its very nature. If tradition is not merely doctrines or beliefs transmitted from the past, but the very context in which they are interpreted, then the effort to subordinate tradition to reason will necessarily diminish the understanding of tradition. A part of tradition, that aspect of it which can be deliberately examined, will take the place of the whole. The dimension of tradition which operates in an unconscious and pre-conscious way will be consigned to the realm of prejudice. It is pre-judgmental in that it comprises ingrained ways of thought which, many would say, need to be fully illumined by reason if they are not to hinder the search for truth. This is the heritage of the Enlightenment, which will be the topic of this chapter. According to the pessimistic assessment of the Enlightenment, tradition (and the prejudices which accrue to it) have obscured the true nature of things. The thinkers of this age set for themselves the task of enlightening what had, up until their time, remained in darkness. Their chief tool would be the human reason. This reason, however, is not viewed by the eighteenth century in a communal sense, as a common heritage which binds a society together by a general agreement about what is reasonable. No one inherits reason, this age proclaimed, and God has not planted it as an innate idea in the human mind.
    [Show full text]
  • Francis Bacon: a Ter­ Centenary
    FRANCIS BACON: A TER­ CENTENARY HERBERT L. STEWART It is not too much to say that in temper. in honesty. in labour. in humility. in reverence, Bacon was the most perfect example that the world had yet seen of the student of Nature, the enthusiast of knowledge. DEAN CHURCH. Bacon was like a barometer that announced the coming of fine weather, and was absurdly supposed to have produced it. JOSEPH DE MAISTRE. Thou knowest him, 0 reader. He is that stupendous Bacon, who discovered the new way of discovering truth . In brief, they have detected this poor Chancellor to be a hungry Jew of Whitechapel, selling judgment for a bit of money. They twitch the purple cloak off him, all the learned wigs, patch-coifs and trappings off him. and say-with nostrils dilated in disgust-Go! He goes, one of the sorrow fullest of all mortals. to beg bread in Gray's Inn, to augment the sciences. if from the like of him the sciences have any augment to expect. CARL YLE. N the day of the execution of Charles I, it was remarked by O Samuel Pepys that a good text for preachers would be the motto "The memory of the wicked shall rot." But Pepys, on that 30th January, 1649, was only sixteen years old. With the lapse of time the bitterness of his censure was assuaged. He came to see that mankind is not quite sharply divided into "the wicked" and "the righteous." And he was destined to look with an indulgent eye upon the sins of another monarch, at least not superior to the object of his youthful reprobation.
    [Show full text]
  • A Cross- Cultural Examination of Individualism and Human Dignity
    THE PRIDE OF THE “COTTON-CLAD”: A CROSS- CULTURAL EXAMINATION OF INDIVIDUALISM AND HUMAN DIGNITY Yang Ye Abstract: Max Weber attributes the rise of modern Western society to Puritanism, noting that the Calvinist Protestant found, in his lonely attempt to communicate directly with God, a sense of human dignity and individualism in agreement with the rational structure of democracy. Weber, however, asserts that Confucianism lacks the Protestant way of thinking and hence cannot help with the rise of a modern Chinese society. This essay finds illustrations of Weber’s theory about the West in European civilian intellectuals who confronted authority with dignity, leading to the contemporary tradition of Western intellectuals “as the author of a language that tries to speak truth to power.” It also challenges Weber’s fallacy about China through a study of the varied attitudes of the individual vs. the state in Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, in the formation of a convention known as “the Pride of the Cotton-Clad,” which may play a role in building a state governed by law and justice and a society that respects all its citizens. I THE GERMAN sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) has attributed the rise of capitalism and the modern Western political and social structure to that of Puritanism, and he has observed that the Calvinist Protestant found in his inner sense of loneliness, in excluding all mediators between himself and God and in trying to communicate directly with God, a sense of human dignity. This in turn brought about a kind of individualism in agreement with the rational structure of modern Western society.
    [Show full text]