ext_3181 ([identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] tcpip 2009-09-14 07:14 am (UTC)

I understand where Habermas is coming from with that quote, although I an prepared to rephrase it in a less exclusionary manner. Peter Gay wrote a very important book some decades back entitled "The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism" where does make the very important point that the 'return to the past' was not just an attempt at a Judeo-Christian revival to its origins but also a Hellenic pagan tradition with an acceptance of diversity of viewpoints and criticism.

Of course one of the side effects of this is whether we can legitimately state that expressions like universal human rights are, in fact, universal, or whether they are merely a peculiar cultural obsession of post-Christian Indo-Europeans.

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