Page 328 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
vision and from certain fundamental characteristics of West-
ern civilization.
The first of these is the connection between knowledge and
production. This represents a decisive shift from the ancient
understanding of knowledge as a path toward the beautiful
and the good, and from the Christian understanding of
knowledge as a means of realizing love. Instead, knowledge
becomes linked to utility and productivity. It is therefore nat-
ural that, within such a framework, economics assumes pri-
macy over culture, and that globalization appears first and
foremost as an economic phenomenon, governed by the logic
of continuous growth and profitability.
Closely related to this is the mentality of utility and the role
of technology. The exaltation of reason, isolated from the full-
ness of human existence, led to the conviction that intelligence
is power. From this emerged technology as pure intellect, ca-
pable of connecting human beings while bypassing the limita-
tions of the body and of place. In this way, a global society is
constructed—but at the expense of local and natural particu-
larities. The human body and the natural environment be-
come the silent victims of this process. Communication no
longer requires presence, and the natural world is subjected to
the relentless pursuit of growth and consumption.
A third and decisive element is the shift from the concept
of the person to that of the individual. This marks a profound
difference between the Western philosophical tradition and
the understanding of the Church Fathers. The individual is
self-sufficient, defined numerically, capable of both isolation
and massification. The person, by contrast, exists only in rela-
tionship; uniqueness arises not from self-assertion but from
communion with the other. Globalization is rooted in indi-
vidualism and in the rights of the individual, understood pri-
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