Muy de acuerdo con P. leí lo de Ferguson y claramente su análisis está basado en premisas lutero-puritanas pertenecientes a la cultura Anglosajona, para complementar la bibliografía de P., sugiero leer a Renato Espoz, filósofo chileno, con varios libros a su haber. Saludos, Iván El 12 de marzo de 2012 00:21, PLandsberger <pedro.landsberger@xxxxxxxxx>escribió: > ** > El atículo de Ferguson puede ser muy entretenido y provocador, y puede > ayudar a primera vista a manejar y entender procesos históricos complejos; > pero lamentablemente descansa sobre una larga lista de supuestos > histórico-ideológicos que de partida justifican el desarrollo que tuvo la > Historia hasta el día de hoy y por esa vía justifican también el > statu-quo. Es decir, justifican el sistema actual. Pues todas esas > historias sobre las virtudes y supremacías de la cultura > europea/norteamericana en el fondo son unos mitos cuidadosamente cultivados > por los propios interesados y que nosotros en gran medida reproducimos > porque nacimos, crecimos y vivimos dentro de esa cultura. Esto que afirmo > lo he reflexionado después de largas lecturas de autores que no aparecen en > las listas de best-sellers ni en los comentarios de libros de los días > domingos. Y si ferguson basa su análisis en este tipo de premisas, > necesariamente los resultados a los que llegará y las tesis y alternativas > que visualizará serán erradas, y de poco nos servirán. Pienso que una > buena selección de autores que destruyen gran parte de las premisas del > artículo de Ferguson son los siguientes: > > 1) J.M. Blaut, geográfo/historiador de EEUU que estudió a fondo el > problema ideológico y cultural de Europa/USA en el desarrollo de la > historiografía mundial. Su principal obra: "The Colonizer's Model of the > World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History" (adjunto > Comentarios al respecto) > > 2) Mike Davis; varias obras, varias en castellano; la más atingente es *Late > Victorian Holocausts, El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World*(New > York: Verso, 2001). Hay edición en castellano. > > 3) Alfred Crosby; varias obras; la principal: "Imperialismo Ecológico - > La expansión biológica de Europa, 900-1900". > > 4) John Bellamy Foster; varias obras y artículos, muchos en castellano. > (Estoy adjuntando algunos) > > 5) Sidney W. Mintz: "Sweetness AND POWER". Estudia a fondo la fenomenal > importancia del azúcar tanto en los afanes coloniales de las potencias > europeas, como en la vital alimentación del ejército de obreros que > permitió que despegara la revolución industrial en Europa. (Adjunto algunas > reseñas y menciones. Además, el libro electrónico puede -al parecer- > bajarse de varios sitios web) > > 6) Domenico Losurdo; filósofo italiano con varios textos de interés, pero > el que viene a cuento ahora es "Contrahistoria del Liberalismo" (editorial > El Viejo Topo, 2005) donde este señor "indaga en las contradicciones y las > zonas de sombra que corrientemente eluden los estudiosos" poniendo de > manifiesto la dificultad de conciliar la defensa teórica que hacen ciertos > reconocidos personeros del pensamiento y el gobierno liberal moderno > europeo/norteamericano de la libertad del individuo con la realidad de las > relaciones políticas y sociales. (Adjunto reseña). > > Saludos > > P. > > ----- Original Message ----- > > *From:* Jaime Aravena <jaravena@xxxxxxxxx> > *To:* chilefuturo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > *Sent:* Saturday, March 10, 2012 1:59 PM > *Subject:* [chilefuturo] Re: [chilefuturo] Fwd: Western Civilisation: > Decline – or Fall? - John Mauldin's Outside the Box E-Letter > > hay 6 videos en internet que son notables (en ingles con subtitulos en > ingles) > > *From:* Carlos Contreras <clubcientifico@xxxxxxxxx> > *To:* chilefuturo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 6, 2012 9:49 AM > *Subject:* [chilefuturo] Fwd: Western Civilisation: Decline – or Fall? - > John Mauldin's Outside the Box E-Letter > ** > en inglés, lo bueno viene en el artículo de Fergusson. Ahora me ha > interesado la historia. No se sisirve para estimar el futuro pero es > entretenida a mi edad.****saludos**** > ---------- Forwarded message ----------**From: *John Mauldin and > InvestorsInsight* <wave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>**Date: 2012/3/6**Subject: > Western Civilisation: Decline – or Fall? - John Mauldin's Outside the Box > E-Letter**To: clubcientifico@xxxxxxxxx******** > This message was sent to clubcientifico@xxxxxxxxxx**You subscribed at > www.johnmauldin.com. > Send to a > Friend<http://www.johnmauldin.com/outsidethebox/western-civilisation-decline-or-fall>| > Print > Article<http://www.johnmauldin.com/outsidethebox/western-civilisation-decline-or-fall>| > View > as PDF <http://www.johnmauldin.com/images/uploads/pdf/mwo030512.pdf> | > Permissions/Reprints <http://www.frontlinethoughts.com/contact> | Previous > Article<http://www.johnmauldin.com/outsidethebox/a-primer-on-the-euro-breakup> > [image: Outside the > Box]<http://www.johnmauldin.com/outsidethebox/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=outsidethebox> > [image: Exclusive for Accredited Investors - My New Free > Letter!]<http://www.mauldincircle.com/index.php/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=outsidethebox> > **[image: Subscribe > Now]<http://www.frontlinethoughts.com/subscribe/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=outsidethebox> > **Missed Last Week's Article?**Read It > Here<http://www.johnmauldin.com/outsidethebox/a-primer-on-the-euro-breakup> > Western Civilisation: Decline – or Fall? > John Mauldin | March 5, 2012 > I had my nose in Niall Ferguson's newest book, *Civilization: The West > and the > Rest,*<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594203059/frontlinethou-20>at > every possible moment during my recent trip to Hong Kong and Singapore. > It's powerful and very, very timely, and I strongly recommend it. To help > get the word out, I asked Niall for a short, somewhat personal piece on the > thinking behind the book – in other words, what moved him to write it? > What you're going to find in the piece below for this week's Outside the > Box, as well as in the book, is an author who is very concerned about our > civilization's prospects – and unafraid to say so. I mean, the last time I > looked, "saving the world" had gone distinctly out of fashion. And then, > and then, we all grow up and get pretty focused and incremental about > things: if we can just address the problem or three right in front of us, > we're reasonably content. > But leave it to a Harvard history professor to break out of the box and go > tilting at the big picture. And when you think of it, we're all pretty > concerned at this point, however we frame the issues. Everywhere we turn, > it seems, we find the forces of polarization and dissolution gnawing at our > social fabric, and Yeats' fateful line about the center not holding starts > to feel uncomfortably prophetic. Maybe it's about time we all thought > bigger and worked harder at getting along, while we still can. > Niall turns to a notion put forth by the social scientist Charles Murray, > who has called for a "civic great awakening" – a return to the original > values of the American republic. We could do worse. > I want to congratulate Niall and Ayaan on their new baby, Thomas Hirsi > Ferguson! May he grow up in a world that is flourishing. > Your holding out hope for our future analyst, > John Mauldin, Editor > Outside the Box > JohnMauldin@xxxxxxxxxxxx > Western Civilisation: Decline – or Fall? > By Niall Ferguson > As a freshman historian at Oxford back in 1982, I was required to read > Edward Gibbon's *Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*. Ever since that > first encounter with the greatest of all historians, I have pondered the > question whether or not the modern West could succumb to degenerative > tendencies similar to the ones described so vividly by Gibbon. My most > recent book, *Civilization: The West and the Rest *attempts an answer to > that question. > The good news is that I do not believe that Western civilization is in > some kind of gradual, inexorable decline. In my view, civilizations do not > rise, fall, and then gently decline, as inevitably and predictably as the > four seasons or the seven ages of man. History is not one smooth, parabolic > curve after another. The bad news is that its shape is more like an > exponentially steepening slope that quite suddenly drops off like a cliff. > To see what I mean, pay a visit to Machu Picchu, the lost city of the > Incas. In 1530 the Incas were the masters of all they surveyed from the > heights of the Peruvian Andes. Within less than a decade, foreign invaders > with horses, gunpowder, and lethal diseases had smashed their empire to > smithereens. Today tourists gawp at the ruins that remain. > The notion that civilizations do not decline but collapse inspired the > anthropologist Jared Diamond's 2005 book, *Collapse. *But Diamond > focused, fashionably, on man-made environmental disasters as the causes of > collapse. As a historian, I take a broader view. My point is that when you > look back on the history of past civilizations, a striking feature is the > speed with which most of them collapsed, regardless of the cause. > The Roman Empire did not decline and fall over a millennium, as Gibbon's > monumental work seemed to suggest. It collapsed within a few decades in the > early fifth century, tipped over the edge of chaos by barbarian invaders > and internal divisions. In the space of a generation, the vast imperial > metropolis of Rome fell into disrepair, the aqueducts broken, the splendid > marketplaces deserted. The Ming dynasty's rule in China also fell apart > with extraordinary speed in the mid–17th century, succumbing to internal > strife and external invasion. Again, the transition from equipoise to > anarchy took little more than a decade. > A more recent and familiar example of precipitous decline is, of course, > the collapse of the Soviet Union. And, if you still doubt that collapse > comes suddenly, just think of how the postcolonial dictatorships of North > Africa and the Middle East imploded this year. Twelve months ago, Messrs. > Ben Ali, Mubarak, and Gaddafi seemed secure in their gaudy palaces. Here > yesterday, gone today. > What all these collapsed powers have in common is that the complex social > systems that underpinned them suddenly ceased to function. One minute > rulers had legitimacy in the eyes of their people; the next they did not. > This process is a familiar one to students of financial markets. Even as I > write, it is far from clear that the European Monetary Union can be > salvaged from the dramatic collapse of confidence in the fiscal policies of > its peripheral member states. In the realm of power, as in the domain of > the bond vigilantes, you are fine until you are not fine—and when you're > not fine, you are suddenly in a terrifying death spiral. > The West first surged ahead of the Rest after about 1500 thanks to a > series of institutional innovations that (to entice younger readers) I call > the "killer applications": > 1.*Competition. *Europe was politically fragmented into multiple > monarchies and republics, which were in turn internally divided into > competing corporate entities, among them the ancestors of modern business > corporations. > 2.*The Scientific Revolution. *All the major 17th-century breakthroughs > in mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology happened in > Western Europe. > 3.*The Rule of Law and Representative Government. *An optimal system of > social and political order emerged in the English-speaking world, based on > private-property rights and the representation of property owners in > elected legislatures. > 4.*Modern Medicine. *Nearly all the major 19th- and 20th-century > breakthroughs in health care were made by Western Europeans and North > Americans. > 5.*The Consumer Society. *The Industrial Revolution took place where > there was both a supply of productivity-enhancing technologies and a demand > for more, better, and cheaper goods, beginning with cotton garments. > 6.*The Work Ethic. *Westerners were the first people in the world to > combine more extensive and intensive labor with higher savings rates, > permitting sustained capital accumulation. > For hundreds of years, these killer apps were essentially monopolized by > Europeans and their cousins who settled in North America and Australasia. > They are the best explanation for what economic historians call "the great > divergence": the astonishing gap that arose between Western standards of > living and those in the rest of the world. In 1500 the average Chinese was > richer than the average North American. By the late 1970s the American was > more than 20 times richer than the Chinese. > Westerners not only grew richer than "Resterners." They grew taller, > healthier, and longer-lived. They also grew more powerful. By the early > 20th century, just a dozen Western empires—including the United > States—controlled 58 percent of the world's land surface and population, > and a staggering 74 percent of the global economy. > Beginning with Japan, however, one non-Western society after another has > worked out that these apps can be downloaded and installed in non-Western > operating systems. That explains about half the catching up that we have > witnessed in our lifetimes, especially since the onset of economic reforms > in China in 1978. > I am not one of those people filled with angst at the thought of a world > in which the average American is no longer vastly richer than the average > Chinese. I welcome the escape of hundreds of millions of Asians from > poverty, not to mention the improvements we are seeing in South America and > parts of Africa. But there is a second, more insidious cause of the "great > reconvergence," which I do deplore—and that is the tendency of Western > societies to delete their own killer apps. > Who's got the work ethic now? The average South Korean works about 39 > percent more hours per week than the average American. The school year in > South Korea is 220 days long, compared with 180 days in the U.S. And you do > not have to spend too long at any major U.S. university to know which > students really drive themselves: the Asians and Asian-Americans. The > consumer society? 26 of the 30 biggest shopping malls in the world are now > in emerging markets, mostly in Asia. Modern medicine? As a share of gross > domestic product, the United States spends twice what Japan spends on > health care and more than three times what China spends. Yet life > expectancy in the U.S. has risen from 70 to 78 in the past 50 years, > compared with leaps from 68 to 83 in Japan and from 43 to 73 in China. > The rule of law? For a real eye-opener, take a look at the latest World > Economic Forum (WEF) Executive Opinion Survey. On no fewer than 15 of 16 > different issues relating to property rights and governance, the United > States fares worse than Hong Kong. Indeed, the U.S. makes the global top 20 > in only one area: investor protection. On every other count, its reputation > is shockingly bad. The U.S. ranks 86th in the world for the costs imposed > on business by organized crime, 50th for public trust in the ethics of > politicians, 42nd for various forms of bribery, and 40th for standards of > auditing and financial reporting. > What about science? U.S.-based scientists continue to walk off with plenty > of Nobel Prizes each year. But Nobel winners are old men. The future > belongs not to them but to today's teenagers. Here is another striking > statistic. Every three years the Organization of Economic Cooperation and > Development's Program for International Student Assessment tests the > educational attainment of 15-year-olds around the world. The latest data on > "mathematical literacy" reveal that the gap between the world leaders—the > students of Shanghai and Singapore—and their American counterparts is now > as big as the gap between U.S. kids and teenagers in Albania and Tunisia. > The late, lamented Steve Jobs convinced Americans that the future would be > "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China." Yet statistics from > the World Intellectual Property Organization show that already more patents > originate in Japan than in the U.S., that South Korea overtook Germany to > take third place in 2005, and that China has just overtaken Germany too. > Finally, there's competition, the original killer app that sent the > fragmented West down a completely different path from monolithic imperial > China. The WEF has conducted a comprehensive Global Competitiveness survey > every year since 1979. Since the current methodology was adopted in 2004, > the United States' average competitiveness score has fallen from 5.82 to > 5.43, one of the steepest declines among developed economies. China's > score, meanwhile, has leapt up from 4.29 to 4.90. > Not only is the U.S. less competitive abroad. Perhaps more disturbing is > the decline of meaningful competition at home, as the social mobility of > the postwar era has given way to an extraordinary social polarization. You > do not have to be an Occupy Wall Street activist to believe that the > American super-rich elite—the 1 percent that collects 20 percent of the > income—has become dangerously divorced from the rest of society, especially > from the underclass at the bottom of the income distribution. > But if we are headed toward collapse, what will it look like? An upsurge > in civil unrest and crime, as happened in the 1970s? A loss of faith on the > part of investors and a sudden Greek-style leap in government borrowing > costs? How about a spike of violence in the Middle East, from Iraq to > Afghanistan, as insurgents capitalize on our troop withdrawals? Or a > paralyzing cyberattack from the rising Asian superpower we complacently > underrate? > Is there anything we can do to prevent such disasters? Social scientist > Charles Murray calls for a "civic great awakening"—a return to the original > values of the American republic. He has a point. Far more than in Europe, > most Americans remain instinctively loyal to the killer applications of > Western ascendancy, from competition all the way through to the work ethic. > They know the country has the right software. They just cannot understand > why it is running so damn slowly. > What we need to do is to delete the viruses that have crept into our > system: the anticompetitive quasi monopolies that blight everything from > banking to public education; the politically correct pseudosciences and > soft subjects that deflect good students away from hard science; the > lobbyists who subvert the rule of law for the sake of the special interests > they represent—to say nothing of our crazily dysfunctional system of health > care, our overleveraged personal finances, and our newfound unemployment > ethic. > Then we need to download the updates that are running more successfully in > other countries, from Finland to New Zealand, from Denmark to Hong Kong, > from Singapore to Sweden. And finally we need to reboot our whole system. > Voters and politicians alike dare not postpone the big reboot. If what we > are risking is not decline but downright collapse, then the time frame may > even be tighter than one election cycle. > Copyright 2012 John Mauldin. 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