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Vittorio Cotesta’s The Heavens and the Earth traces the origin of the images of the world typical of the Graeco-Roman, Ancient Chinese and Medieval Islamic civilisations. Each of them had its own peculiar way of understanding the universe, life, death, society, power, humanity and its destiny. The comparative analysis carried out here suggests that they all shared a common human aspiration despite their differences: human being is unique; differences are details which enrich its image.
Today, the traditions derived from these civilisations are often in competition and conflict. Reference to a common vision of humanity as a shared universal entity should lead, instead, to a quest for understanding and dialogue.
Today, the traditions derived from these civilisations are often in competition and conflict. Reference to a common vision of humanity as a shared universal entity should lead, instead, to a quest for understanding and dialogue.
Price: $326.00
Pages: 640
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: International Comparative Social Studies
Publication Date:
09 August 2021
ISBN: 9789004328495
Format: Hardcover
"This is a magisterial overview of the formulations of important philosophical topics in three world civilizations. It is framed as a comparative study of the emergence among philosophers, historians, and geographers of a universalistic humanism in these three traditions. Its focus is on the conceptualizations of human nature and the ways in which philosophers, geographers and historians thought about ‘others.’ But it also provides an insightful and enlightening overview of ontology, geography, scientific and historical epistemology – the nature of reality, the known world, time, space and theories of eternity and creation." — Christopher Chase-Dunn, University of California-Riverside
"A monumental work on the longue durée of the Eurasian world history and civilizations." — Mehdi P. Amineh, University of Amsterdam
"Un livre profond et de grande valeur [...] retrace un parcours intellectuel ancien pour découvrir des affinités insoupçonnées entre les civilisations. [...] Il montre comment des visions du monde différentes partagent des postulats communs [...] et met en lumière les prémisses éthiques d’une entente entre cultures. [...] Une pensée globale, née bien avant la mondialisation actuelle." — Enzo Pace, in: Archives de sciences sociales des religions, No. 200, October-December 2022
"A monumental work on the longue durée of the Eurasian world history and civilizations." — Mehdi P. Amineh, University of Amsterdam
"Un livre profond et de grande valeur [...] retrace un parcours intellectuel ancien pour découvrir des affinités insoupçonnées entre les civilisations. [...] Il montre comment des visions du monde différentes partagent des postulats communs [...] et met en lumière les prémisses éthiques d’une entente entre cultures. [...] Une pensée globale, née bien avant la mondialisation actuelle." — Enzo Pace, in: Archives de sciences sociales des religions, No. 200, October-December 2022
Vittorio Cotesta is Professor of Sociology at Università degli Studi Roma Tre (Rome). His main fields of interest are Global Society, Human Rights, Modernity, and Civilizations. Among his publications: Max Weber on China. Modernity and Capitalism in a Global Perspective (Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2018); Kings into Gods. How Prostration Shaped Eurasian Civilizations (Brill, 2015); Global Society and Human Rights (Brill, 2012); Global Society, Cosmopolitanism and Human Rights (ed.) (Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2013).