Articolo in rivista

FERRI E (2013). Oriente-Occidente: sull’origine dell’equivoco dell’incompatibilità. Alcune considerazioni. ORIENTE MODERNO, vol. 93, p. 239-264, ISSN: 0030-547

 

Abstract

Often, as much in the mass media as in scientific circles, one resorts to the categories of “East” and “West”, which are usually recited in a series of variations (for instance ‘western values’, ‘western civilization’, ‘western democracy’, etc.), that are used to indicate different, if not opposed vision of life, politics or culture.

The article shows how from the start, in Greek and Roman political thought and historiography, an ideologically oriented reading of one’s own past developed; these dynamics then were taken up again and accentuated, especially in the modern era, often to justify and legitimize processes of conquest and domination.

 

Keywords: East/West; Greece/Asia; Freedom; Roots; Troy; Identity