[Stones] scholarship

[littlestone]

2) His notion that heightened self awareness is particular to modern Western cultures, and was/(is?) lacking in the orient. This showed a gross ignorance of oriental history imo.

Hi rob. I haven't read Julian Thomas I'm afraid so can't really comment (in context) on his idea of heightened self-awareness being particular to modern Western cultures. I would say, however, that the idea may have some truth in it - though it would be a mistake to lump Oriental cultures together and say they lack a heightened sense of self-awareness. Chinese society (ancient and modern) was and still is highly individualistic. The same can't be said for the cultures/societies of Korea and Japan (and perhaps also Mongolia and Tibet which belong to the same ethnic group). Speaking personally, and as one who lived for nearly twenty years in Japan, it came as a considerable shock to return to the West and see just how obsessed with the 'human condition' Western culture is - this certainly does manifest itself in the West's pictorial and three dimensional arts. It's only a personal opinion but I'm inclined to think that any heightened self-awareness in the West is more a result of Greek and Roman cultural influence than anything inherent in our genetic makeup. If prehistoric European cave paintings are anything to go by it would seem to indicate more an interest in the natural world on the part of our ancestors than an interest in a heightened sense of self-awareness.

Thanks for the link to Death, identity and the body in Neolithic Britain anyway - will try to check that out.

LS
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