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Science Forum Index » Anthropology Forum » The Rights of Animal
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| Author |
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| Stephen Hayes |
 Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2003 1:07 am |
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FamilyNet Newsgate
* Forwarded (from: LIBRARY_FMY) by Stephen Hayes using timEd/2 1.10.y2k.
* Originally from a reader (8:8/2002) to All.
* Original dated: Thu Dec 18, 08:31
From: a_reader_@hotmail.com (a reader)
tomcatpolka@yaNOSPAMhoo.com wrote in message
news:<brt6t5$6do$5@news1.radix.net>...
Quote: David O'Bedlam <thedavid@shell.rawbw.com> wrote:
Right. Especially since "civilization" is just "Us" defining our-
selves as "better" than some "Them" -- while maintaining no real
objectively essential moral difference.
I thought a barbarian was anyone who didn't speak Greek? Works for me.
"Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that
speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me."
You're both using a normative sense of the word "civilization".
There is also a purely descriptive sense of the word, which
doesn't necessarily imply that a "civilization" is morally
superior to a society which is not a civilization. This
descriptive sense, used by archaeologigists and historians,
is hard to define precisely, but V. Gordon Childe's definition
from the 1950s is still workable. He defined a "civilization"
as a society which has ten characteristics:
(1) permanent settlement in dense aggregations
(2) nonagricultural specialists
(3) taxation and wealth accumulation
(4) monumental public buildings
(5) a ruling class
(6) writing techniques
(7) predictive science
( artistic expression
(9) trade for vital materials
(10) a decline in the importance of kinship
So if I say that Rome was a civilization while ancient Teutonic
society was not, this doesn't necessarily mean I intend to say
that Romans were morally superior to the ancient German tribes.
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