Human life is complex and multi-dimensional. Our approach to it should likewise be multi-dimensional.
I would suggest because humans exist in communities, groups, and create culture. As such group psychology and sociology are relevant topics.
Basically it gets back to systems theory. Systems theory is true. We should approach reality as if systems theory is true to fully appreciate its complexity and nuance.
You can’t understand a people without understanding their culture.
Our obsession with universals and generality has undermined the importance we place on culture.
What if the lessons of Vietnam don’t fully apply elsewhere?
What if the lessons of Iraq I don’t fully apply elsewhere?
What if the lessons of the shift do democracy and capitalism in Eastern Europe after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 don’t fully apply elsewhere?
If anything, the lessons of these wars and social transformations is that cultures are different and those cultures shape policy and the responses to those policies—which is to say success and failure hangs on culture.
Yes, there are lessons to be learned from all of history. But the notion that we can simply impose democracy, without paying attention to cultural dynamics and the grassroots is a fools errand and a fallacy.
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Answer:
Human life is complex and multi-dimensional. Our approach to it should likewise be multi-dimensional.
I would suggest because humans exist in communities, groups, and create culture. As such group psychology and sociology are relevant topics.
Basically it gets back to systems theory. Systems theory is true. We should approach reality as if systems theory is true to fully appreciate its complexity and nuance.
You can’t understand a people without understanding their culture.
Our obsession with universals and generality has undermined the importance we place on culture.
What if the lessons of Vietnam don’t fully apply elsewhere?
What if the lessons of Iraq I don’t fully apply elsewhere?
What if the lessons of the shift do democracy and capitalism in Eastern Europe after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 don’t fully apply elsewhere?
If anything, the lessons of these wars and social transformations is that cultures are different and those cultures shape policy and the responses to those policies—which is to say success and failure hangs on culture.
Yes, there are lessons to be learned from all of history. But the notion that we can simply impose democracy, without paying attention to cultural dynamics and the grassroots is a fools errand and a fallacy.