Türk ve Japon Modernleşmesi: 'Uygarlık Süreci' - Birikim

UYGARLIK KURAMLARI VE ŞİDDET SORUNU 111Theories of civilisation and the problem of violenceIn this article, the civilisation theory of Elias is taken together with other civilisationtheories and these theories are compared in terms of the problematic ofviolence. This is done to evaluate the relation between civilisation and violence.Two different views on modernity -the one sees no violence in modernity andthe other focuses on the character and the destructive potential in modernityarediscussed. Twentieth century is explained as a century of violence. Here anattempt is made to find out how the theoreticians’ own experiences of violencereflect on their theories of civilisation and culture. Sigmund Freud, Max Weber,Alfred Weber, Norbert Elias, Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno are thefigures whose analyses on civilisation are examined in terms of their experiencesof ‘macro violence’. Four different relations between civilisation and violenceare explained. The first one sees humanity always in a process of civilisation,and war and terror as short-term set-backs. The second one explains thereason of violence with refernce to the success of civilisation. The third oneemphasises the multiplicity of meanings inherent in the essence of modernityand evaluates the barbarism as the ‘dark’ face of modernity. The fourth onerejects the relation between macro crimes and civilisation. Here in this articlethe third approach is supported as it considers the inherent contradictions ofEnlightenment, reason, and modernity. Elias’ theory of civilisation is criticisedof having deficiencies in terms of understanding the experiences of violence ofthe twentieth century.