I believe that Todorov made a good point in his quote. Knowing what one sees first hand is only the first level of knowledge. People who only have this perspective on the world cannot make informed decisions because they may know very little about the world outside of their little ‘bubble’ that they live in and can see the workings of first hand. They make decisions based on how it would affect their own world, but these decisions are not informed because they cannot foresee results that are not obvious.
The second type of person (the man for which each country is as his own) has achieved the second level of knowledge, He is able to view issues in the context of how it will affect his world, how it will affect someone else’s world, and how it may affect his own world indirectly. He has a wider base of knowledge than the first man and is able to understand international issues with a broader perspective. However, he still only views problems in the context of the effects it will have on him.
The third type of person has the highest level of thinking. I would define the third type of person in the same way that Runners World defines an advanced runner. Unlike the intermediate runner who is obsessed with running and plans his whole day around his run, the advanced runner is able to go for a run once a day, enjoy it, and leave it at that. The person for whom the whole world is as a foreign country is like an elite runner because he is able to step back from things and pass judgment without involving his emotions.
I think that Todorov had the right idea with this because people who are not emotionally involved in issues often have the clearest perspectives. However, I do wonder where one could find the third type of person. My perception is that the majority of people who are knowledgeable about international relations have emotions about most of the issues because international relations issues have such broad consequences. It would be hard to find a person that wouldn’t be affected by an issue. So although I think that Todorov was right, I don’t necessarily think that he was practical in this context.
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4 comments:
Hmm, maybe I am interpreting the question wrong, but I assumed the third person viewing all nations as foreign territory was seeing them as conquerable and could be manipulated however he chose (whereas you probably wouldn't do that to your own nation, etc).
I see that most people are interpreting the third person as someone who can step back and objectively view all nations as "foreign."
I hope this doesn't say something about me haha...
Well that makes sense to me... especially when we know that the quote is coming from Todorov. I actually like that interpretation better lol.
You have really great taste on catch article titles, even when you are not interested in this topic you push to read it
I am reading this article second time today, you have to be more careful with content leakers. If I will fount it again I will send you a link
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