An Appraisal of the Chronology Problem in the “Rise of the West” Question

“Rise of the West”, “Grand Question”, “The Great Divergence” are all different nomenclature for a pristine problematic in social sciences: The supposed discrepancy between the “East” and the “West” in a variety of domains whereby the “West” is assumed to acquire supremacy over the “East”. In the for...

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Main Authors: Gürsu Galip Gürsakal, Sezgin Kaya
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hale Şıvgın 2013-12-01
Series:Gazi Akademik Bakış
Online Access:http://www.gaziakademikbakis.com/index.php/gab/article/view/201
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author Gürsu Galip Gürsakal
Sezgin Kaya
author_facet Gürsu Galip Gürsakal
Sezgin Kaya
author_sort Gürsu Galip Gürsakal
collection DOAJ
description “Rise of the West”, “Grand Question”, “The Great Divergence” are all different nomenclature for a pristine problematic in social sciences: The supposed discrepancy between the “East” and the “West” in a variety of domains whereby the “West” is assumed to acquire supremacy over the “East”. In the former part of our essay we try to acquaint the reader with the aforementioned literature. We do not intend to present a detailed account but just the important milestones delineating only the broadest contours of the discussion. After providing a general overview of the “Rise of the West” literature we dwell upon the “Problem of Chronology” haunting it. We call it the “Problem of Chronology” since it is essentially providing an adequate answer to the following question “When had the West Risen?” We think the researchers have too much engaged in providing an answer to the “Why” question, which is both harder to address and prone to much prejudice. According to us, a better approach is to put “Problem of Chronology” as the central piece of the argument. It is a clear cut and more tangible question to tackle. However, we pinpoint that, providing a solution to the problem requires answering a preliminary question: “In which domains should we seek a chronology?” We argue that a three pronged approach derived from Mann’s theory of social power and realist International Relations theory may be useful in achieving a methodologically satisfactory solution to the problem.
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spelling doaj-art-72550dc66e8d4776a86c76937a98b7d02025-02-03T06:33:55ZengHale ŞıvgınGazi Akademik Bakış1307-97782013-12-017136779An Appraisal of the Chronology Problem in the “Rise of the West” QuestionGürsu Galip GürsakalSezgin Kaya“Rise of the West”, “Grand Question”, “The Great Divergence” are all different nomenclature for a pristine problematic in social sciences: The supposed discrepancy between the “East” and the “West” in a variety of domains whereby the “West” is assumed to acquire supremacy over the “East”. In the former part of our essay we try to acquaint the reader with the aforementioned literature. We do not intend to present a detailed account but just the important milestones delineating only the broadest contours of the discussion. After providing a general overview of the “Rise of the West” literature we dwell upon the “Problem of Chronology” haunting it. We call it the “Problem of Chronology” since it is essentially providing an adequate answer to the following question “When had the West Risen?” We think the researchers have too much engaged in providing an answer to the “Why” question, which is both harder to address and prone to much prejudice. According to us, a better approach is to put “Problem of Chronology” as the central piece of the argument. It is a clear cut and more tangible question to tackle. However, we pinpoint that, providing a solution to the problem requires answering a preliminary question: “In which domains should we seek a chronology?” We argue that a three pronged approach derived from Mann’s theory of social power and realist International Relations theory may be useful in achieving a methodologically satisfactory solution to the problem.http://www.gaziakademikbakis.com/index.php/gab/article/view/201
spellingShingle Gürsu Galip Gürsakal
Sezgin Kaya
An Appraisal of the Chronology Problem in the “Rise of the West” Question
Gazi Akademik Bakış
title An Appraisal of the Chronology Problem in the “Rise of the West” Question
title_full An Appraisal of the Chronology Problem in the “Rise of the West” Question
title_fullStr An Appraisal of the Chronology Problem in the “Rise of the West” Question
title_full_unstemmed An Appraisal of the Chronology Problem in the “Rise of the West” Question
title_short An Appraisal of the Chronology Problem in the “Rise of the West” Question
title_sort appraisal of the chronology problem in the rise of the west question
url http://www.gaziakademikbakis.com/index.php/gab/article/view/201
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