Claims of Western ethical superiority rest on self-serving and false contrasts

Evidence

Having annexed science, he’s going to claim ethics too. … Just think of it! M. Caillois has never eaten anyone! M. Caillois has never dreamed of finishing off an invalid! It has never occurred to M. Caillois to shorten the days of his aged parents! Well, there you have it, the superiority of the West: “That discipline of life which tries to ensure that the human person is sufficiently respected so that it is not considered normal to eliminate the old and the infirm.” — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 222

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Said’s Orientalism critique of how the West constructs images of the non-West to define its own virtue. — connects to: The West’s entitlement to own the nonwhite world rests on defining it as subhuman; The West concept classifies, represents, compares, and evaluates societies — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 509; Western civilization discourse was built on a constructed binary of superiority and inferiority (+6 more)

Related

• The noble-savage ideal served as a Western vehicle for self-critique (similarity 0.90)
• Western civilization discourse was built on a constructed binary of superiority and inferiority (similarity 0.86)
• Colonial torture directly contradicts proclaimed Western moral superiority (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Cultural survival must not be equated with moral superiority #corroborates (0.82)
• Counter-narratives to Western superiority lack equal cultural exposure. #expands (0.78)