Replying to LO25634 --
Hello LeO'ers,
Leo Minnigh wrote:
> We often use the word 'orientation'. Orientation as a direction to go to,
> or a mirror to enable a look to ourselves.
>
> The word 'orientation' ha sit roots in the 16th century, when cartography
> started as a new science and maps and atlasses became popular for to the
> great public. These maps had the East on the upper side of the map, North
> was on the left side. The East, or 'orient' was the direction towhich the
> map was projected. And that is where the meaning of 'orientation' comes
> from.
> In the next centuries it became costum to project the North on top of
> maps.
I agree, however, my sixteenth century map - by Mercator - of Holland has
the West (Occidens) on the upper side. The East (Oriens) is on the lower
side.
> If we project ourselves to the West, we could use the word
> 'occidentation'. If we like to project ourselves to other directions than
> the West, we may speak of 'anti-occidentation', of which orientation is
> only one of the many possibilities.
There is a clue here on the problem Western Non-western: the opposite of
Western is perhaps Non-western but not Anti-western. From a Western -
digital - perspective (true, yes) the Non-western perspective may be the
"anti"-perspective (untrue, no), while it may be one of many possibilities
(undecided, may be). The interesting position would be to claim
Non-western theories of leadership the opposite (anti) of western
theories: this would be typical western behaviour, were the opposites
exist.
Note: our maps are maps of a globe: every point is to the east and the
west of another point, depending on your choice of direction. The
important thing is to remember this when making a trip in 80 days around
the world: is it 80 days of a date 80 days from now?
--Drs J.C. Lelie CPIM (Jan) LOGISENS - Sparring Partner in Logistical Development mind@work - est. 1998 - Group Decision Process Support Mobilé - Performance Improvement Tel.: (+ 31) (0)70 3243475 or car: (+ 31)(0)65 4685114 http://www.mindatwork.nl and/or taoSystems: + 31 (0)30 6377973 - mindatwork@taoNet.nl
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