On the Plurality of Civilizations

348 pages. In the XXth c. there were several authors struggling with the notion of civilization - Oswald Spengler (Der Untergang des Abendlandes), Arnold Toynbee (A Study of History), Anton Hilckman (Orient et Occident. Une Philosophie de l'histoire), Samuel Huntington (A Clash of Civilizations). Among them Feliks Koneczny was the most original. He expanded his general views on how to classify civilizations in the volume On the Plurality of Civilizations. He did not believe that...
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348 pages. In the XXth c. there were several authors struggling with the notion of civilization - Oswald Spengler (Der Untergang des Abendlandes), Arnold Toynbee (A Study of History), Anton Hilckman (Orient et Occident. Une Philosophie de l'histoire), Samuel Huntington (A Clash of Civilizations). Among them Feliks Koneczny was the most original. He expanded his general views on how to classify civilizations in the volume On the Plurality of Civilizations. He did not believe that civilizations are like organisms which have a birth, a youth, and adult life, a decline and death. He pointed out that some civilizations exist for millennia and show no decline while others are short lived. Koneczny claims that in the history of the world there were around 22 civilizations of which only nine exist today (Chinese, Brahmin, Jewish, Tibetan, Numidian, Turanian, Byzantine, Latin, Arab). He goes on to describe in detail these existing civilizations and in particular the four which struggle for existence in Poland. Koneczny claims that civilizations are constantly at war and no synthesis among them is possible because they have irreconcilable attitudes towards ethics. One has to consciously defend one's own civilization.