Eastern-Western Thought and Rhetoric: a Question of Degrees

Suad Ali Raja

Date of Graduation

Spring 1975

Degree

Master of Arts

Department

Communication

Committee Chair

Robert Bradley

Abstract

The ultimate goal of this study is not to attempt to undermine the achievements of the Greek civilization, which took the final step in breaking the barriers in exalting the spirit of free inquiry and making knowledge supreme over faith, but to understand various stages in the link between Eastern and Western shared growth and development. Edward Burns and Philip Ralph in their book, World Civilization, stress the importance of the Eastern influence on the Greek civilization: "It is necessary to remember that the groundwork for many of their achievements had already been prepared by the Egyptians. The Greek alphabet was derived from Phoenicians." The aim of this study is not to play upon those magnified differences between the two cultures, but to approach these differences objectively and seek to understand the common ground shared by both, and upon which they both have built. What hopefully emerges from this study as noteworthy is that there are clear factual links between the Eastern and Western civilizations and that various artifacts prove inter-cultural commingling. It is culture which represents human adaptation to varying dimensions of experience. Through the understanding of man and his culture (language) a higher level of humaness and knowledge could be reached. This study has aimed at examining these inherent human agencies which make man dependent on man, people on people and cultures on other cultures in all facets of human knowledge. Highly technological and industrial countries and agrarian under-developed nations can no longer claim self-sufficiency and total independence from each other any more than man can claim humaness without being a member of society.

Subject Categories

Communication

Copyright

© Suad Ali Raja

Citation-only

Open Access

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