Thesis Eleven

 

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Thesis Eleven, Vol. 85, No. 1, 64-92 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0725513606062951

American Civilization

Peter Murphy

Monash UniversityPeter.Murphy{at}arts.monash.edu.au

Autopoietic societies have produced three major images of civilization: the Greco-Roman, the Eurocentric Western, and the Settler Society type. The most important incarnation of the latter to date has been America. This article explores the deep-going differences between American and European ideas of civilization. It examines how the American kind of autopoietic civilization expresses itself in preternaturally distinctive conceptualizations of nature and freedom, life and death, order and chaos, city and ecumene. The article discusses the political and social implications of this.

Key Words: cities • civilization • contingency • ideology • liberty • nature • order • pneuma • rights • sea regions


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