The noble-savage ideal served as a Western vehicle for self-critique

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 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

We cannot attempt to resolve here the age-old sociological debate as to which came first: the idea of “the West,” or Western societies. What we can say is that as these societies emerged, so a concept and language of “the West” crystallized. And yet, we can be certain that the idea of “the West” did not simply reflect an already-established Western society: rather, it was essential to the very formation of that society. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 514 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Claims of Western ethical superiority rest on self-serving and false contrasts — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 222; The West’s self-conception formed only in relation to the Rest; Western civilization discourse was built on a constructed binary of superiority and inferiority (+5 more)

Related

• Claims of Western ethical superiority rest on self-serving and false contrasts (similarity 0.90)
• Western civilization discourse was built on a constructed binary of superiority and inferiority (similarity 0.83)
• The West concept classifies, represents, compares, and evaluates societies (similarity 0.80)
• The West’s entitlement to own the nonwhite world rests on defining it as subhuman (similarity 0.80)
• Western self-criticism as moral exception vindicates the civilization that produced it (similarity 0.80)
• The Enlightenment’s self-image required the Rest as its suppressed opposite. (similarity 0.79)
• Western projects justify themselves by framing colonized peoples as incapable of self-improvement. (similarity 0.79)
• Enlightenment social science mapped all world societies onto one West-modeled progress scale (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Claims of Western ethical superiority rest on self-serving and false contrasts #corroborates (0.85) — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 222
• The idea of the West helped constitute the West itself #corroborates (0.82) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 514
• The West’s self-conception formed only in relation to the Rest #corroborates (0.80)
• Western civilization discourse was built on a constructed binary of superiority and inferiority #corroborates (0.80)
• The West concept classifies, represents, compares, and evaluates societies #expands (0.78) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 509
• Ideology defines the self by stigmatising the Other #corroborates (0.75) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 833
• Western modernity is a hegemonic particularism disguised as universalism #corroborates (0.72) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 153