Turkey and the Meaning of the West
The below are my comments to a provicative piece at the Atlantic Community regarding EU-Turkishn relations and whether the West has lost sight of itself even as it quiety snubs Turkey from being able to join the EU.
"The article raises an intriguing question: "Could it be the case that the West has lost its own Western identity, but the pundits have yet to realize it?"
The question of what is the "West" is deeply philosophical. Is the "West" Christian, secular, modern, post-modern, etc? The answer appears to be all of the above and this is fundamentally what will keep Turkey and the EU from ever formally being able to be joined despite a strong contemporary strategic rationale.
The dominant philosophical trend of secular humanism espoused so strongly throughout Europe appears to actually be the vestiges of Christianity. As paradoxical as that might seem at first glance, Christianity's morality and ethics still dominate European thinking. Certainly, post-Enlightenment rationality attempts to entomb the faith of the transcendent that defines Christianity. Yet even as it does so, there is a residue of compassion, respect, and love of neighbors that seems to still be grounded in faith even if it is now promoted by vacuous legalisms.
Rationality does not beget morality. Rationality is a morally neutral device that can help illuminate some answers, but cannot answer those that are the most fundamental of questions especially why do we exist. Consequently, the "West", still retains elements of itself and has not completely succumbed to airy cosmopolitanism. Though even as it attempts this, it is still living out an effort at universality that is reflective of its Christian origins in the wake of the collapse of the western Roman Empire.
To step back from going too far down the road of abstraction, the question about Turkish-EU relations boils down to this: can an Islamist nation (as Turkey is slowly turning into under the AKP, though let's leave the debate over "extreme" and "moderate" for another time) join a faithfully Christian or secularized Christian grouping without sacrificing something of intense importance to its own long-term identity?
I suspect the long-term answer is no (as in several generations). Neither side is able to swallow this at the most subterranean of levels.
That said, for contemporary strategic reasons, it would be advantageous to paper over this reality for the moment. Good policy often has to glide over uncomfortable truths in order to function. It is in Europe's interest to be more embracing of Turkey so as to deal with the very immediate challenge of energy security. The larger philosophical questions can be answered later and, perhaps, in ways difficult for anyone living now to conceive."
"The article raises an intriguing question: "Could it be the case that the West has lost its own Western identity, but the pundits have yet to realize it?"
The question of what is the "West" is deeply philosophical. Is the "West" Christian, secular, modern, post-modern, etc? The answer appears to be all of the above and this is fundamentally what will keep Turkey and the EU from ever formally being able to be joined despite a strong contemporary strategic rationale.
The dominant philosophical trend of secular humanism espoused so strongly throughout Europe appears to actually be the vestiges of Christianity. As paradoxical as that might seem at first glance, Christianity's morality and ethics still dominate European thinking. Certainly, post-Enlightenment rationality attempts to entomb the faith of the transcendent that defines Christianity. Yet even as it does so, there is a residue of compassion, respect, and love of neighbors that seems to still be grounded in faith even if it is now promoted by vacuous legalisms.
Rationality does not beget morality. Rationality is a morally neutral device that can help illuminate some answers, but cannot answer those that are the most fundamental of questions especially why do we exist. Consequently, the "West", still retains elements of itself and has not completely succumbed to airy cosmopolitanism. Though even as it attempts this, it is still living out an effort at universality that is reflective of its Christian origins in the wake of the collapse of the western Roman Empire.
To step back from going too far down the road of abstraction, the question about Turkish-EU relations boils down to this: can an Islamist nation (as Turkey is slowly turning into under the AKP, though let's leave the debate over "extreme" and "moderate" for another time) join a faithfully Christian or secularized Christian grouping without sacrificing something of intense importance to its own long-term identity?
I suspect the long-term answer is no (as in several generations). Neither side is able to swallow this at the most subterranean of levels.
That said, for contemporary strategic reasons, it would be advantageous to paper over this reality for the moment. Good policy often has to glide over uncomfortable truths in order to function. It is in Europe's interest to be more embracing of Turkey so as to deal with the very immediate challenge of energy security. The larger philosophical questions can be answered later and, perhaps, in ways difficult for anyone living now to conceive."
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