Identiy of Europe: homeland of memories
Goran Greti}


Europe has once been defined as the "homeland of memories", and thust it has been expressed that the Europe, according to its structure, represents complexity and intertwining of different historical traditions, which are
continuously, in a new way, establishing European identity and self-consciousness.
Particular European essence consists from Jewish religion, Greek philosophy and science and Christianity. The Greek philosophical and scientific tradition has the predominant importance for the constituting of the spirit
of Europe, which is Western culture and civilisation. In ancient Greece for the first time in history the question about what is in the basis of everything that is, was stated. That was the beginning of insight and knowledge of the non-permanence of everything, of people, things, and natural phenomena that are all in a state of flux, changing. This determined the exit from mythological era, introduced logos instead of myths, considering that human mind strives towards and can comprehend mentally 'being', the essence of everything that is.
In a short time we get the competent and crucial answer to that question; as a matter of fact the basis of everything that is, is the mind, and everything that is can be perceived by the mind. Therefore, from Anaxagoras to Hegel, the spirit of Europe is explicitly and significantly assigned as a mental enterprise and understanding of the world by the mind, i. e., European spirit means and represents the belief and faith that individual human existence, and the co-existence of individuals, as well as the people and states, could and must be established and led by the criteria of the mind/reason.
From Greek philosophy we have gained for the history of West the competent answers to questions about human 'being' and about the nature of the human community. The Greek polis is a permanent longing and the ideal of
European humanistic comprehension of the structure of the human society. It is important to emphasise that Greek sophists had laid the foundation for natural rights and from that the general idea of equality of all men has been derived.
Different sciences have been formed, developed and differentiated from philosophy, and their further conceptualisation led to scientific-technological civilisation with its specific technical rationalism, as a complex Western understanding and formatting of the man and his world; Galileo Galilei is a paradigm of that process.
In Roman times contact, conflict and syntheses of highly intellectually elaborated ancient Greek culture, philosophy, and philosophical theology and Christianity occurred. That was, certainly, one of the most exciting
world historic events that is hard to be understood completely and that is the eternal inexhaustible origin of European spirit. To the Roman, Latin, synthesis of European spirit, as an important historical contribution,
Christianity gave its introspection and determination of the absolute value of the individual and personal subjectivity of the man.
The Roman synthesis includes two important inner characteristics: the establishment of the codified Roman law as a pillar of the western civilisation. Secondly, philosophy, moreover, the intellectual/spiritual movement of stoics, who were developing the views of sophists and, therefore, producing all-encompassing theories of natural rights and cosmopolitanism as the precise characteristic of a man with European spirit.
By observing European history as a whole we can notice the strong expressions of such European identity in different époques in its self-consciousness, particularly during renaissance and enlightenment era.
Those were relatively short seasons of the awareness of European cultural togetherness and consciousness of connecting upon the common spiritual origin. In literature it is probably formulated in the most beautiful way
in a work of Pico della Mirandole: de hominis dignitatae.
On the other hand the real history of Europe is almost the endless line of conflicts and wars of European nations and states, which have, after WW II, resulted in the breakdown of Europe's importance and significance in
world's enterprises.
Anticipating such threat for Europe Kant had written, two hundred years ago, the famous discussion " Towards the Eternal Peace", where, based on the insight in the nature of a human being , and in various forms of human communities, and in the ubiquitous demand of the human mind, he had advocated the necessity of the world's, European Peace. Such peace was to be achieved through union of states that could prevent regression to the
natural state which would have implied the loss of the status civilis and appearance of barbarian wars. In this, until today instructive and inspiring work, Kant had foreseen, as an "ideal of pure reason", the necessity of such allia nce and union.
In today's constellation of the world, it seems important to me to highlight Kant's anticipation of a threat and danger from a big state, which is structured as a republic, and which can be transformed from a model state to a leading state, and subsequently become the world's tyrant.
Such danger Hegel noticed even more clearly while criticising Kant's concept from a standpoint of absolute sovereignty of a national state. Hegel's criticism was coming out, not as much from his sympathies for national state, but from the insight and comprehension of epochal and wide historical meaning of that determination.
Generally we can say that: Europe can be characterised as a double self, and its particularity, and its culture and civilisations are based on two different elements: on Jewish-Christian tradition and ancient Greek paganism. Lapidary expressed these elements are as Athens and as Jerusalem.
That theme of the origin of European spirit can be expressed in variety of ways, e. g.: Europe as an occident is the opposite, the "other" from orient, but it shares its "otherness" with Moslem world, together with whom it inherited Greek-Latin tradition.
Christianity is "the other" from the Moslem world, but Christianity shares its "otherness" with the Orthodox world, with which again it has Christianity in common. Roman Christianity is "the other" from the world of Byzantium of Greek provenience. And finally, the very Roman Latin Christianity is divided into Catholicism and Protestantism. This leads to the conclusion that Europe is a variable notion, and one can be more or one can be less European. In other words, the European is opposed to a greater number of those "other", and that " other" can not be simply and unequivocally determined as a mere opposite pole; therefore, Europe is the otherness from itself.
It could be said that European culture, strictly speaking , can never be really " mine, ours", one's own, because it is nothing but a road that must be taken again and again, in order to get to foreign, "other" origins of itself. European culture, perceived in this way, is not a sort of calm, self-satisfying property, but rather the good, which is being achieved arduously.
Therefore, the danger to the idea of Europe can not come from "outside", since Europe can not be perceived as something "internal", which comes from itself. If we understand Europe as a closed space, divided from that or
from the "other", then that "other", that outside of it, must be felt as a threat to its identity.
But then this would mean that Europe has lost faith in the possibility that its virtues and ideals can become of interest to those who were incidentally born outside of its borders. It would be fatal for the idea of Europe, if Europe, for example, thought that the universality of the reason, which is incarnated in its meaning, is only its specific characteristic, relevant only for it, and which is not transferable to the other cultures. Related to this, we can mention here some expressions of the idea of Europe such as definitions of the individual freedom, of human
rights, and of legal state.
Contemplating the fate of Europe during the hard times of thirties of this century, a great philosopher Husserl stated: "The greatest danger for Europe is its fatigue." However, if Europe wants to regain the consistence
of its identity it must overcome the partialities of its "separate sprits".
That would mean transience to the other epoch of the history of spirit which would represent new level of the world or European history.
Therefore we do not look at the European Union as only custom's, monetary and economic community, which it certainly is, but also as a gradual and long-lasting syntethising of historic achievements of European practice of
life.
To recognise and comprehend historic necessity of these events is of vital importance for small nations of South Eastern Europe whose historic development was not simultaneous with great national states of the European
West.
It seems to me that this constellation is an appropriate illustration of the coherence theory of historic truth, of
Hegel's, superficially looking incomprehensible speculative attitude, which is that world history is a world tribunal.