European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

More documents

Recommendations

Info

50 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYyou completely. I shall therefore simply highlight some issues ofparticular relevance to an alternative educational model, as opposed tothe increasing market values, consumption and disrespect for the ruleof law and wars to which we are all accustomed.Despite the fact that I have roamed around a Europe which rangesfrom Cádiz, Palermo and Athens to Paris, Oxford and Dublin via Prague,Berlin and St Petersburg, the real Europe that I have discovered on mywide-eyed wanderings is in fact all about a spiritual adventure. It is forthis reason that I intend to start off by offering you a vision of Europewhere philosophy is very much in the foreground. In any case, this isonly part of the bigger picture, since the notion of Europe alsoencompasses its own historical pedigree within our continent and itsinfluence on the rest of the world.The philosopher’s EuropeThe philosopher’s Europe is vast; however for the purposes of thispaper I shall offer a summary of its Humanistic elements. We can see thistendency originating in the Dialogues by Plato (428-347 BC), the respublica theory postulated by Cicero (106-43 BC), and the Meditations ofMarcus Aurelius (AD 121-180); these ideas are described by Burckhardtin Renaissance Italy 2 and permeate the works of philosophers fromLocke, Erasmus, Galileo, Newton, Voltaire and Diderot to Lessing, Kant,Goethe, Marx, Bertrand Russell and Ernst Bloch 3 .Europe, the daughter of Agenor, king of Tyre, from the isle of Crete. The kidnappinghas been immortalized various different ways in art: the frieze in Selinonte (6th centuryBC, Palermo, Museo Archeologico Regionale) with a religious aura; courting in Pompey(2nd century BC, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale); as bounty in Titian’s version(1559-1562, Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum); and finally against abackground of prosperity full of raffinatezza and sensuality in the Veronese version(1528-1588, Rome, Musei Capitolini).2Cfr. J. Buckhardt, Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien, Frankfurt am Main:Deutscher Klassiker Verlag, 1989.3Such is the tendency discovered by Burckhardt in Renaissance Italy (from Petrarch[Epistola, 1336–1353; 1304-1374] and Pico della Mirandola [De dignitate hominis,1486; 1463-1494] to Francisco de Vitoria [Theologicae Relectiones, 1557; 1486 - 1546])and which underlies the work of Locke (Two essays regarding civil government; OnTolerance; Essay concerning Human Understanding; 1632-1704), Erasmus (1469–1536),Galileo (1564–1642), Newton (1642–1727), Voltaire (Essai sur les moeurs; Traité sur latolerance, 1694-1778) and Diderot (L’Encyclopedie, 1751, 1713–1784) and also Lessing(Nathan der Weise, 1779, 1729-1781), Kant (Was ist Aufklärung?, 1784; 1724-1804),Goethe (1749–1832), Marx (1818–1883), Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) and Ernst Bloch(Das Prinzip Hoffnung, 1959, 1885-1980).
EUROPE: MEANING AND MOTIVE 51Among a multiplicity of contents, the value attributed to theAncient World stands out particularly, from Petrarch (1304-1374) andGoethe (1749-1832) to the English writer Matthew Arnold (1822-1888). Humanism is a secular movement, encompassing the notions ofspiritual revival and the moral promotion of man. By this token, man isplaced at the centre of the world and makes himself the subject of theentire universe. Humanism stated that man was the measure for allthings, and could be the ultimate foundation; moreover, philosophy wasto be a means for finding out about life and the problems faced byhumanity as a whole. So, despite leading a terrestrial existence, man—representing the pinnacle of creation and the essential link between allcreatures— was also able to lift himself high enough to communicatewith God himself; indeed, in the final analysis it was this very ability toachieve union with the divine that Pico della Mirandola celebrated in hisessay on human dignity (1486) 4 . The Italians Humanists were to find thisseries of ideas and beliefs embodied by Petrarch; the 18th centuryphilosophers were inspired by Locke, Thomas Mann by Goethe, andWilliam James by Montaigne. Even now, those of us who teach theHumanities to young people have sought to initiate our pupils into sucha tradition.Today, I would like to highlight just a very few of the manyfundamental tenets of the humanist tradition: virtù vince fortuna, thepost-Renaissance belief that strength can overcome any adversity;man’s moral autonomy; and, finally, the power of negation, of criticalreasoning without sacrificing tolerance of other ideas.Virtù vince fortunaWith the Renaissance, the Ancient World became an alternativemodel, not just for rhetoric and literature but also for the mostimportant artform of them all, the art of living —this included privatelife, overcoming adversity, and public life, converting the State into awork of art. Such emphasis on man’s creative potential and his freedomto shape his own life gave rise to personality and a growing selfconsciousness,which is reflected in the increased number of portraits,self-portraits, biographies and autobiographies executed in a realisticmanner, considered by Burckhardt to be a characteristic feature ofItalian Renaissance. The main theme of Humanism was man’s potential,his creative faculties. In this way, Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472),4vid. Pico della Mirandola, Oratio, 1486.
Page 1: Inés María Gómez-Chacón (ed.)Eu
Page 5 and 6: European Identity.Individual, Group
Page 7 and 8: ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . .
Page 9: CONTENTS 914. The Construction of E
Page 12 and 13: 12 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, G
Page 27 and 28: Opening AddressCamino Cañón Loyes
Page 29 and 30: OPENING ADDRESS 29throughout histor
Page 31 and 32: OPENING ADDRESS 31—To gather expe
Page 33 and 34: OPENING ADDRESS 33European nature a
Page 37 and 38: 1.What do we Mean When we Say Europ
Page 39 and 40: WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 39W
Page 41 and 42: WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 41O
Page 43 and 44: WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 43u
Page 45 and 46: WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 45e
Page 47: WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 47A
Page 69 and 70: 3.Europe, from the Institutional Re
Page 71 and 72: EUROPE, FROM THE INSTITUTIONAL REFE
Page 83 and 84: 4.The European Dimension of Educati
Page 85 and 86: THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION OF EDUCATION
Page 97: THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION OF EDUCATION
Page 100 and 101:
100 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL,
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107:
Page 108 and 109:
Page 111 and 112:
6.European Programmes from SpainEnc
Page 113 and 114:
EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 113(
Page 115 and 116:
EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 115S
Page 117 and 118:
EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 117s
Page 119 and 120:
EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 119A
Page 121 and 122:
7.Is the European Model Being Rejec
Page 123 and 124:
IS THE EUROPEAN MODEL BEING REJECTE
Page 125 and 126:
IS THE EUROPEAN MODEL BEING REJECTE
Page 127 and 128:
8.Boderline Europeans:Nationalisms
Page 129 and 130:
BODERLINE EUROPEANS: NATIONALISMS A
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
9.Difference as Destabilizing Facto
Page 145 and 146:
DIFFERENCE AS DESTABILISING FACTOR
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 173 and 174:
11.What Makes us European? Identity
Page 175 and 176:
WHAT MAKES US EUROPEAN? IDENTITY CO
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
12.The Meaning of European Identity
Page 193 and 194:
THE MEANING OF EUROPEAN IDENTITY: P
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203:
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 216 and 217:
Page 218 and 219:
Page 220 and 221:
Page 223 and 224:
14.The Construction of the European
Page 225 and 226:
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EUROPEAN ID
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247:
ConclusionTHE CONSTRUCTION OF THE E
Page 250 and 251:
Page 252 and 253:
Page 255 and 256:
16.Images of Europe: the Perspectiv
Page 257 and 258:
IMAGES OF EUROPE: THE PERSPECTIVE O
Page 259 and 260:
Page 261 and 262:
Page 263 and 264:
Page 265 and 266:
Page 267 and 268:
Page 269:
Page 272 and 273:
Page 274 and 275:
Page 276 and 277:
Page 278 and 279:
Page 280 and 281:
Page 282 and 283:
Page 284 and 285:
Page 286 and 287:
Page 288 and 289:
Page 290 and 291:
Page 292 and 293:
Page 294 and 295:
Page 296 and 297:
Page 298 and 299:
Page 300 and 301:
Page 302 and 303:
Page 304 and 305:
Page 306 and 307:
Page 308 and 309:
Page 310 and 311:
Page 312 and 313:
Page 314 and 315:
Page 316 and 317:
Page 318 and 319:
Page 320 and 321:
Page 322 and 323:
Page 324 and 325:
Page 327 and 328:
22.The Construction of European Ide
Page 329 and 330:
THE CONSTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN IDENTI
Page 331 and 332:
Page 333 and 334:
Page 335 and 336:
Page 337 and 338:
show all

European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?