In this short commentary, John Bellamy Foster describes the term after which Samir Amin’s Eurocentrism is famously named.
EUROCENTRISM: Since its first publication more than thirty years ago, Eurocentrism has become a classic of radical thought. Written by one of the world’s foremost political economists, this original and provocative essay takes on one of the great “ideological deformations” of our time: Eurocentrism. Rejecting the dominant Eurocentric view of world history, which narrowly and incorrectly posits a progression from the Greek and Roman classical world to Christian feudalism and the European capitalist system, Amin presents a sweeping reinterpretation that emphasizes the crucial historical role played by the Arab Islamic world. Throughout the work, Amin addresses a broad set of concerns, ranging from the ideological nature of scholastic metaphysics to the meanings and shortcomings of contemporary political Islam. The second edition contains a new introduction and concluding chapter, both of which make the Samir Amin’s arguments even more compelling.
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