Dialectics of civilizations: a cosmic perspective

Abstract

Hayward Alker accepted the partial validity of both pluralistic and evolutionary-progressive accounts of world history and politics. From this angle, he commented also on “the dialectics of civilizations.” The pluralist understanding of multiple subsequent and simultaneous civilizations became prevalent in the twentieth century. This chapter argues for a reinterpretation of the Braudelian idea: one should analyze various spans and scales of time, from short-term events and conjunctures to the historical longue duree and beyond, to ecological, geological and cosmic scales of time. Further, whereas as a historian, Braudel was mostly concerned with the past, Alker maintained that relevant social sciences not only must, but also can have important things to say about the future. The chapter discusses briefly the relevance of Alker's studies on the deep logics of the scripts of actors’ moral choices, also in the context of relations with extraterrestrial civilizations. It explores the well-known Drake equation from a social scientific perspective.