[lit-ideas] A Good Clash
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:18:48 EST
Helm is quoting from Huntington -- Again, it would be good to have a review
of the number of civilisations he lists --, I recall "Latin American" versus
"Western" is one of them.
But perhaps a 'clash' is not necessarily a bad thing, and it is that keeps
History rolling.
The Greeks clashed with the Persians -- and we have the glory of Herodotus.
The Greeks clashed with themselves -- and we have the glory of Thucydides.
The Greeks clashed with the Romans -- yet they borrowed their language.
The Anglo-Saxons clashed with the Celts.
The Conquistadores clashed with the "Indians"
and Geary clashed with his neighbour --. (The neighbour's fault)
Grice has examined this. He has 10 commandments of 'conversational maxims',
be informative, be truthful, etc. But then he says there may be a CLASH of
maxims.
And the addressee has to interpret the message in a way that the clash is
only apparent.
But a clash of civilisations -- or maxims within a system -- is what
constitutes part of what we call ... life.
If the only clash we are going to think of when we think of the clash of
Mexicans and Americans is that boring film, "Gringo Viejo" then forget it --
but
clashes can be invigorating and helpful towards our ultimate goal: one big
world speaking in one big -- Chinese as things are going -- voice.
Cheers,
JL
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