“the Case for Contamination” by Kwame Anthony Appiah Essay
Article: “The Case for Contamination” by Kwame Anthony Appiah
In “The Case for Contamination” the author Kwame Appiah analyzes and points out the many ways in which the world is becoming globalized. He uses many extensive examples to show that the world is getting ‘contaminated’. By ‘contamination’ he means that the mixture of all the innovative values and traditions are damaging and eventually destroying what our ancestors have left us. In his analysis, he describes the gradual transformation of many cultures and different religions to support his points but in his personal opinion he is very open-minded and is not greatly influenced by his religion. His tone is informative and gives the reader the freedom to decide between authenticity or traditions and globalization or modernization. While Kwame Appiah’s analysis uses globalization as the main theme, he implicitly conveys the ideas of freedom of choice, power of leadership and the ultimate message to respect other religions.
First of all, freedom of choice and the power of free will are among the most significant factors that influences the effects of globalization on cultures and religions. In James C. Livingston’s novel, The Anatomy of the Sacred, the explanations of evil in the world or the theodicy is analyzed in the point of views of distinct religions. Being a Jewish woman I was most interested in the monotheistic explanation for moral evil that also incited me to seek answers for the malevolent Jewish Holocaust. “ The monotheistic theodicies that focus on God’s limitless power and sovereignty tend to place the blame for moral evil on the fact of the Fall of Adam and the ever-present intractable character of the human sin” (Livingston 253). I believe then that much of the suffering and evil in history and the world is the result of ‘human free actions’. Similarly, that same human free will is portrayed in Appiah’s analysis. People around the world are getting ‘contaminated’ with globalization because
In “The Case for Contamination” the author Kwame Appiah analyzes and points out the many ways in which the world is becoming globalized. He uses many extensive examples to show that the world is getting ‘contaminated’. By ‘contamination’ he means that the mixture of all the innovative values and traditions are damaging and eventually destroying what our ancestors have left us. In his analysis, he describes the gradual transformation of many cultures and different religions to support his points but in his personal opinion he is very open-minded and is not greatly influenced by his religion. His tone is informative and gives the reader the freedom to decide between authenticity or traditions and globalization or modernization. While Kwame Appiah’s analysis uses globalization as the main theme, he implicitly conveys the ideas of freedom of choice, power of leadership and the ultimate message to respect other religions.
First of all, freedom of choice and the power of free will are among the most significant factors that influences the effects of globalization on cultures and religions. In James C. Livingston’s novel, The Anatomy of the Sacred, the explanations of evil in the world or the theodicy is analyzed in the point of views of distinct religions. Being a Jewish woman I was most interested in the monotheistic explanation for moral evil that also incited me to seek answers for the malevolent Jewish Holocaust. “ The monotheistic theodicies that focus on God’s limitless power and sovereignty tend to place the blame for moral evil on the fact of the Fall of Adam and the ever-present intractable character of the human sin” (Livingston 253). I believe then that much of the suffering and evil in history and the world is the result of ‘human free actions’. Similarly, that same human free will is portrayed in Appiah’s analysis. People around the world are getting ‘contaminated’ with globalization because
Cited: Appiah, Kwame Anthony. "The Case for Contamination." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 1 Jan. 2006. Web. 13 June 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/magazine/01cosmopolitan.html>. Livingston, James C. The Anatomy of the Sacred: An Introduction to Religion. Sixth Edition ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.