Pattern on the sand: writes Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri

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Pattern on the sand
What is at stake is not the clash of civilisations, contends Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri*, but the very concept of humanity itself
Al-Ahram Weekly

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Every term, however clear or simple, involves a concept reflecting a world view. This is why it is not feasible to divorce terms from their historic contexts. This axiom applies to the term "clash of civilisations". The very term itself reflects a concept that is central to Western modernity. Here we must note that this Western modernity implies the application of reason, science and technology, but it does so, while divorcing them from any values. It is an application, therefore, that is "value- free", as the expression goes.

The question arises then: in the absence of constant, general human values what becomes the final arbiter of the conflict and strife that are an essential part of the human condition? Without such values the individual or ethnic group becomes the ultimate frame of reference that determines right and wrong. What the individual or group perceives as being in their interest becomes "the good" and what is against their interest becomes "the evil". The resolution of conflicts, in such a context, is propelled by force and individual will.

This is the modernity adopted by the West, which places itself (not man or humanity) as the centre of the world. Interpreted in this manner, Western modernity becomes both imperialist and Darwinian. (.....)

Western-style modernity has proceeded from the premise that man is the centre of the universe, and concluded with Michele Foucault's wisdom that: "A man can only respond with philosophical laughter at those who still want to talk of the human being and his universe and liberation. Man will become relegated to little more than a pattern on the sands of a beach, soon to be wiped out by the waves. The world started without mankind and will end without it. What is most certain in this age of ours is not the absence of God, but the demise of mankind itself." (.....)

* The writer is emeritus professor of comparative literature at Ain Shams University

continue reading: Al-Ahram Weekly, http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/788/op33.htm