We should start going back past Greece and Rome, to where they got their ideas, ie, Egypt and Mesopotamia, get over Asia Minor and Cyprus and go past the Euphrates to the Tigris and south to the cradle of civilization. Those Greek philosophers vacationed and studied in Egypt... Our predilection to begin in Greece comes in large part to our Christian prejudices, since we have to open ourselves to a whole different set of religious/philosophical views and views of societies and politics. This gives credence to the contributions of all races including African and Arabian. After all, they had knowledge, wisdom, opulence, success, and eventually experienced the first decline of civilizations, we can definitely learn something by looking beyond the polarizing hierarchical Platonic assumptions that Western Civilization spoon feeds, especially to Americans. I say this as a white, American, Christian. I'm not xenophobic, I believe in respect for all races and living things. I like Derrida on animals. I recommend "This is not Sufficient", by Lawlor.

Robin