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Europe was created by History. America was created by Philosophy.

Cal1999

Who agrees?

Reply 1

TheBatman

Europe was founded on history, America by philosophy - Margaret Thatcher

Reply 2

Cal1999

Original post by TheBatman

Europe was founded on history, America by philosophy - Margaret Thatcher

I know - that's why I posted it.

Reply 3

lucaf

Nah, America was founded by politics.

Reply 4

Asolare

No.

If you agree with this statement then congratulations, you just gave the middle finger to every single Ancient Greek Philosopher (Socrates, Aristotle, Plato ex.) who undeniably helped shape the ENTIRE world as it is today.

Reply 5

pol pot noodles

Is this quote alluding to the nonsensical idea that Americans have that their nation was created by enlightened people desiring freedom, liberty and equality?

Reply 6

darthentantius

which continent made their philosophy? i don't get the point, they only used their philosophy as a pre-text to revolt.

Reply 7

chtt99

This assertion is absolutely mental. Pretty much all western political and philosophical thought can be traced back to Aristotle, Plato, Democritus, Epicurus, Anixamander etc. etc. who have all contributed to first the development of a Roman Empire, through to the Kingdoms of the Middle Ages and consequently the nations of Europe today; and thus also to the emergence of America. To suggest that one or the other can be defined by a specific academic discipline is absurd.

Dictionary check - 'assimilation'

Reply 8

Chicken.M.

Nonsense. Like everyone Thatcher said.

Reply 9

Copperknickers

The statement is flawed for three main reasons that I can think of:

1. There's no such thing as 'Europe', European countries evolved over a long period of time and all have different stories as to how they established themselves. Vatican city for instance was created for ideological reasons (theological rather than philsophical). The same is arguably true for the Netherlands (it was created as part of the safeguarding of Westphalian sovereignty which is a philosophical idea).

2. You can't compare history to philosophy. History is a list of things that happened, philosophy is a specific sphere of human activity. So being 'created by history' is a meaningless term. It literally means 'Europe was created by things happening'. No ****.

3. The implication is that Europe came about by accidents and happenstances outside of conscious human control, whereas America was planned by rational human beings. The constitution of the USA may have been based on philosophy but the country was created the same way as most other countries, by bloodshed and the seizure of power through war. Although unlike most European countries there was also a side order of genocide. Just because a country wasn't created by enlightened philosophers, that doesn't mean it was created accidentally. The invasion of Pictland by the Scoti tribe for example, and the subsequent conquest of what was to become Scotland, was a very deliberate act.

The American war of independence was driven not by philosophy but by conflict over resources: 'resources' including power and money as well as land. All countries were shaped by impersonal socioeconomic forces such as competition for resources, and the human reactions to these. Most European countries have some kind of constitution that is very much influenced by philosophy the same as the USA. And forget ancient Greece, look at the history of modern Greece: their war of independence from the Ottomans and the surrounding political literature is about as philosophical as it gets, the likes of Korais and Rhigas Feraios are the equivalent of America's founding fathers.