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Was liberalism just the appropriation of Native American forms of government and civilization?
It seems like that whole period was western intellectuals trying to come to terms with the vastly superior North American civilization, Rousseau specifically seemed to base almost all his ideas off the popular conception of first nation people at the time, but a lot of those philosophers were huge Indi-boos back then.
It also explains why liberal democracy has flourished in North America while it continues to face setbacks in Europe.
The collapse of feudal Europe seems to coincide with the globalization of ideas and contact with the Americas as well.
American Independence is often credited to revolutionary France, but isn't it easy to go back one step further and credit revolutionary France to America? Especially considering the ideas of "natural law", "social construct", "noble savage", etc. that were so popular back then.
No one ever talks about this, but the "western mentality", specifically that of the North Americas, seems to have inherited as much from First Nations as it did from Europe.
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the noble savage is a complete myth, native americans were a bunch of thugs like everyone else
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>>2228491
So you're saying the eternal prairie nigger is to blame for the liberal lunacy? In that case they deserved getting wiped out.
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>>2228497
Unless you consider that thugishness a positive aspect.
But regardless, it seems like most of the "enlightenment" was Europeans seeing the healthy, free, and happy Native American tribes and trying to reconcile their "civilization" against it.
Even today, there's an obvious trend towards animalism and paganism in American spirituality that doesn't seem to exist in Europe.
American philosophy, that is pragmatism and transcendentalism, seem almost undeniably influenced by the behavior and lives of the people that first inhabited the Americas.
Yet history books act as though Europeans never interacted with First Nations tribes, as though there was never a flow of ideas between the two cultures.
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Enlightenment formed the notion that Man is master of Nature and can do with her as he wishes. JJ was an exception to this trend.
>It seems like that whole period was western intellectuals trying to come to terms with the vastly superior North American civilization
I doubt anyone really considered them superiour. They were cool and exotic for some, but thats all.
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>>2228497
Some were, some were more chill. Just like everywhere. The Iroquoisp Confederacy was pretty damn cool. I live in the Pacific Northwest and the tribes that were here were pretty chill overall. Having plentiful resources definitely helps with that I think.
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>>2228544
Very interesting post/thread. Shame its full of retards and stormniggers.
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>>2228491
>Was liberalism just the appropriation of Native American forms of government and civilization?
Liberalism can trace its origins to political systems and philosophies of Greece and Rome, to the humanism of people like Erasmus or St. Thomas Moore, to German common law, to Christianity, To the turmoil of the reformation and the peace of Westphalia.
Among all these things, Amerindian influence is extremely marginal at best.
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>>2228544
>Even today, there's an obvious trend towards animalism and paganism in American spirituality that doesn't seem to exist in Europe.
How can you say that? Environmentalism and Neopaganism are extremely popular in Europe. More so probably.
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>>2230517
This. I'm praying this is just a troll thread.
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