barbarism

Barbarity (even barbarism called), derived from the Greek word βάρβαρος Bárbaros for not (or bad) Greek and unintelligible speaking peoples (see Barbarian ), commonly known means about "unbridled savagery" (see also vandalism ). In contrast, Oswald von Wolkenstein (1377–1445) referred the word barbarism to the barberry .

The term “barbarian” (a “European keyword”) has served since the beginning of antiquity within a Hellenocentric or ethnocentric view of the world as a delimiting and derogatory term for the otherness of “foreign” cultures , be they in regional (especially fringe and border people) or ideological (Jews, Christians, "Gentiles") distance.

At the same time, there is a strong rhetorical and propagandistic use of the term, which seldom reflects the real proximity or distance of the cultures being compared. "The linguistic figure was retained, provided that the negatively conceivable pole of barbarism or barbarism was always available in order to shield or expand one's own position by negationem ('by a negation')" ( Reinhart Koselleck 1975).

Barbarism as an epoch designation

In various concepts of the philosophy of history , one or more epochs of barbarism are an integral part of the course of the historical development of mankind.

The National Socialist tyranny from 1933 to 1945 is often referred to as barbarism or a “breach of civilization” because of its inhumanity.

Friedrich Engels

Following Lewis Henry Morgan , according to Friedrich Engels, barbarism is the age between the wildness of primitive man ( primitive communism ) and the class societies that followed, e.g. B. the economy based on slavery ( slave owner society ).

Franz Borkenau

In Ende und Anfang (first English: End and beginning: On the generations of cultures and the origins of the west , 1981) Borkenau puts forward the thesis that between the collapse and the emergence of a new cultural area, the intermediate state of barbarism occurs. Borkenau claims that the old and new epochs differ significantly in their respective attitudes towards mortality , and attributes the new age of barbarism to the cause of the end of metaphysics. This gives him an explanation for the genocides of the 20th century. In comparative genocide research , this explanatory model is criticized as too crude.

Fiction

Isaac Asimov wrote a famous science fiction trilogy, the Foundation Cycle , about the possible shortening of historical periods of barbarism, influenced by historical publications .

literature

• Arno Borst : barbarians, history of a European catchphrase , in: Ders., Barbarians, heretics and artists. Worlds of the Middle Ages, Munich 1988, pp. 19–31, 617f. (Lit.).
• Friedrich Engels : The origin of the family, private property and the state . Swiss cooperative book printing company, Hottingen-Zurich 1884.
• Franz Borkenau: End and Beginning: From the generations of high cultures and from the emergence of the West . ed. u. inserted v. Richard Löwenthal , [1984], 2nd edition, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-608-93032-9 .
• Joachim Gruber / Giulio Vismare: Barbarians , in: Lexikon des Mittelalters 1 (1980), Sp. 1434-1436.
• Michel Henry : La barbarie. Grasset, Paris 1987 (Ger. Die Barbarei. A phenomenological cultural criticism. Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1994.).
• Reinhart Koselleck : On the historical-political semantics of asymmetrical counter-terms (1975), in: Ders .: Past future. On the semantics of historical times (stw 757). Frankfurt a. M. 1979, pp. 211-259, esp. 218-228 ("Hellenes and Barbarians").
• Volker Losemann : Barbarians , in: Der Neue Pauly 2 (1997), Sp. 439-443.
• Ilona Opelt / Wolfgang Speyer : Barbar , in: Jahrbuch für Antike und Christianentum 10 (1967), pp. 251–290 = Reallexikon für Antike und Christianentum , Suppl.-Bd. I (1992), col. 811-895.
• Philip Spencer: From Rosa Luxemburg to Hannah Arendt . Socialism, Barbarism and the Extermination Camps. In: The European Legacy. Vol. 11, No. 5, August 2006, pp. 527-540 (14).

Web links

Wiktionary: barbarism  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Wikiquote: Barbarism  - Quotes

Individual evidence

1. ^ Arno Borst : Barbarians, History of a European catchphrase. In: Same: Barbarians, Heretics and Artists: Worlds of the Middle Ages. Munich 1988, p. 19.
2. ↑ Volker Losemann : Barbarians. In: The New Pauly . Volume 2. 1997, columns 439/440 and 443.
3. ↑ Reinhart Koselleck : On the historical-political semantics of asymmetrical counter-terms. 1975. In: The same: Past future: On the semantics of historical times. (stw 757). Frankfurt / M. 1979, pp. 228/229.