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Todorov, Tzvetan - Fear Of the Barbarians

Fear Of the Barbarians

By: Todorov, Tzvetan (Author). Blackwell Publishers. Published: 05/04/2010. Audience Guide: Professional & Vocational.
Hardback. Sourced from U.S.A.

Full item details here.

Today, we are witnessing the emergence of new forms of tension and conflict that are quite different from the old oppositions that characterized the world of the late twentieth century. These new forms of tension are rooted as much in cultures and traditions, and in attitudes like fear, resentment and contempt, as they are in the hard facts of geopolitics or military power. But their mixture is explosive, and the number of conflicts is on the rise. In this new book, Tzvetan Todorov offers a highly original analysis of this new landscape of violence and fear that characterizes our world today. Drawing on Montesquieu's notion of the human passions, Todorov distinguishes four passions that are particularly important for understanding the modern world ETH those of appetite, resentment, fear and indecision. The developed countries of the West are today distinguished by the place that the feeling of fear occupies within them. They fear both the 'countries of appetite' (those countries, like China and India, whose inhabitants want to enjoy their fair share of the benefits of industrialization) and the 'countries of resentment' (those countries, including many in the Muslim world, whose inhabitants feel anger or resentment towards the most wealthy and powerful nations). But fear is a dangerous motive. It can easily drag us into actions that demean others and ourselves, and risks producing an evil that is worse than the evil we initially feared. The fear of the barbarians can turn us into barbarians. Timely, brilliant and provocative, "The Fear of the Barbarians" is an indispensable guide to the new tensions and conflicts of our age.

Item Details

ISBN10/13: 074564709X/9780745647098
TITLE: Fear of the Barbarians, The
CONTRIBUTORS: Todorov, Tzvetan (Author)
IMPRINT: Polity Press
PUBLISHER: Blackwell Publishers
FORMAT: Hardback
PUBLICATION DATE: 05/04/2010
SUBJECT: Politics, Society, Science & Theory, Violence & Abuse
PAGES: 200
AUDIENCE GUIDE: Professional & Vocational
CONTENTS:

* Introduction: Between fear and resentment Notes to introduction 1. Barbarism and civilisation Being a barbarian Being civilised From civilisation to cultures An Enlightenment heritage Judging cultures Technology and works of art A dream of Enlightenment Civilisation and colonisation Some misunderstandings Notes to chapter 1 2. Collective identities The plurality of cultures Culture as construction The functions of culture States and nations The fragile State A State without culture? Moral and political values A ministry of identity Culture and values Notes to chapter 2 3. The War of the Worlds Make love or war? Religious wars and political conflicts Men like us? The Manichean vision Islamism and totalitarianism The war on terrorism The end and the means Torture: the facts Torture: the debate Notes to chapter 3 4. Steering between the reefs Murder in Amsterdam The anti-Islamic combat The Danish caricatures The reactions A few reflections The Pope's speech By way of Islam Notes to chapter 4 5. European identity In search of an identity Plurality as the basis of unity Forms of coexistence The cosmopolitan model Europe in the West The frontiers of Europe Notes to chapter 5 * Beyond Manicheism * Acknowledgments