Abstract
Civilization as the Survival of the Weak: Rethinking Evolutionary Theory in Civilizational Context
Till now all definitions of civilization which we have are anthropocentric and they, as a rule, are considered as well confirmed stereotypes in different fields of science and humanities. I will try to offer the definition which isn’t anthropocentric and will help to answer some important questions concerning the universal phenomena of human being in the past and present. My concept is largely influenced by Darwin’s principle of natural selection, which is to be reconsidered and rethought and which operates always and everywhere, if we only determine its criteria and scope. In my paper I also use some present-day achievements of semiotics, phenomenology and hermeneutics as methodological principles for the reconstruction of the human cultural and social identity, including its gender aspect. Man (referring primarily to male), the weak and helpless against natural forces, was subject to destruction for two reasons: he was an easy prey to predators, and males died in the inner species battle. Consequently, male was doomed to extinction. The only solution was to end the violent inner species struggle for supremacy and replace it with other selection criteria. The first selection criteria were found in the nature. We suppose that they have been: song, beauty and gifts. Man had to adapt to the new “civilizational” criteria. My hypothesis is based on two facts. First, even today “song, beauty and gifts” are expressions of love or preference of men (males) regardless of the level of civilization, and second, it is the same with animals. We have already arrived at the first definition of civilization as the replacement of the coercive intraspecific competition with non-violent fights. But abolishing the intraspecific competition, male got biologically weak and he became an easier prey for animals. Then he made the second step. He terminated the coercive fighting with animals having replaced it with dance. After totally eliminating violence as a criterion, the woman began to select on the grounds of language (music, word), beauty (decoration, fashion, art) and gifts (wealth, property). Man has gone from the natural (subconscious) selection to the acquired (conscious) selection, that is, man is not a result of natural selection!So we have the final no anthropocentric definition of civilization: Civilization is the survival of the weak.
Keywords
civilization, art, evolution theory, natural selection.
