What Does Being “Civilized” Mean? (response article)

Ken Fuchsman underscores the problematic nature of the concept of civilization: “To me civilization is a mixed bag. It has led to our highest achievements and most horrendous actions.” He identifies the ultimate source of this double-edged sword of both creation and destruction as “a centralized authority in a nation state with a monopoly on force.” This kind of conception defines civilization according to level of organization that in essence represents a utilitarian principle. But according to Fuchsman other concept-

Page 270

tions of civilization have also been advanced that emphasize standards of behavior for the populace, high culture, as well as tending to citizens’ needs and inclinations. One may conclude from this that on the one hand, being “civilized” can imply an organizational principle representing means rather than ends bearing in mind that by twists of history the means can sometimes become ends. On the other hand, being “civilized” can also imply humanistic ideals and humane standards of behavior where a greater emphasis is placed on ends rather than means.

If we define civilization mostly by its lofty ends, we may have to contemplate the well-known danger of ends justifying the means. How many times in history did the ideal of self-defense serve as a justification for wars of aggression? In modern Israel this dilemma was phrased as a contrast between a war of no choice and a war of choice. The intricate dialectics of ends justifying means is a very important dynamic process which is not confined to the Middle East and which can be found around the world. The story of how humanistic ideals get corrupted represents the flesh and bones of psychohistory. However, of greater interest to me is the story of how the organizational principle of the concept of civilization expands and metastasizes to become its own lethal ideal.

Fuchsman identifies the time frame of his discussion as from 1800 to the present. This is consonant with the aforementioned organizational principle of a centralized authority in a nation state and accords well with Pinker’s attribution of the better angels of our nature to the Enlightenment, reason, science, and equality. But we have already learned from 19^th century history that the great romantic counter-reaction to the Enlightenment poked fun at the Age of Reason idea of continuing progress as it sought to replace reason with passion. As they modernized and organized, some European countries were becoming more and more powerful. Zygmunt Bauman, in his book Modernity and the Holocaust (2000), exposed how the propagation of organization and technology became the essence of modernity. At the culmination of this long-term process, the principle of efficiency became the new model of the old ideal of reason and propagated a Holocaust. Efficiency implies smooth functioning and good health. As tending to civilization becomes like gardening, it is reasonable to root out all weeds.

Page 271

A fascinating facet of Bauman’s description is the ability of the organizational and technical mode of functioning whose impact reaches wider spaces and longer distances to override the moral dimension that remains effective only in close space. Moreover, highly organized technology is capable of preempting morality through a switch of vantage point from the personal and the concrete to the general and the abstract.

The origins of the double-edged sword of civilization are rooted in a contradiction. If being more civilized implies humane conduct as an end that is nevertheless secured by organized power as the main means, then we are talking about a model that is riddled with tension. Organization means first and foremost power as well as a hierarchy through which the power gets distributed preferably in a controlled fashion. Yet since the time of Lord Acton we have heard it more than once that power tends to corrupt. In other words, the Achilles heel of civilization rests on the presumption that lofty standards of conduct such as care for others, scientific developments and cultural creations rely for their implementation on a power base that does not always tend to safeguard civilized humanistic ideals. This contradiction is embedded in the human psyche. Are we more civilized nowadays? Many middle class citizens in developed countries enjoy material and cultural amenities that the kings of old could only dream of. This calls for optimism. So does the trend of declining violence attested to by Pinker. By contrast, Bauman’s tracing of causal links leading from modernity to the Holocaust evokes pessimism. It cautions us all that highly organized and technological but utopian cures for humanity’s ills still await us. We are what we are.

Page 272