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This
book addresses a subject I believe is better suited than any other to
launch
a constructive intellectual debate in Egypt today and which can, moreover,
serve as
a rallying point for all intellectuals, whatever their ideological
formation.
The philosophical
premise from which the book proceeds is that there exist three frames of
reference operating at different levels: humanity, civilization and
culture. Civilizations occupy a higher plane than cultures, while humanity
occupies a higher plane than both. As such, it can transcend any clash of
civilizations or cultures
Although all the ideas contained in
this book are concerned with the wider notion of humanity, they can serve
at the same time to steer the relationship between civilizations on the
road towards dialogue, rather than allow it to be swept by a breakdown of
communication between them on to the road of conflict and collision. If,
as Sartre said, the future is what we make it in the kitchen of the
present, the answer to whether we can expect a dialogue between
civilizations or a clash of civilizations in future depends on what we do
today. Thus the future pattern of interaction between civilizations can be
dialogue if we make an effort in the present to steer matters in that
direction.
Alternatively,
a pattern of clashes between civilizations can well become the norm if
relations between them are left to drift by inertia on a collision course
without a serious attempt in the present to open up proper channels of
communication and dialogue.
Tarek Heggy
December 1, 2001*
* This book was
written and published between August and October, 2001.
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