The class on Monday was interesting. The quote picked up during class was:
"Find your country sweet is only a raw beginner. Finding each country as your own is already strong. Finding the whole world as a foreign country is perfect."
Also, we discussed about the three axes Todorov introduced; axiological level, praxeological level, and epistemic level and tried to connect with the quote above.
First of all, I would like to add my own explanation to this quote above. Maybe Todorov wrote this quote is such as concise way so the readers can easily understand. However, if people were to analyze this quote in their own ways, I can tell there will be so many different ways to describe this quote. In terms of the simple thought of this quote, I can understand the content (what he is trying to tell the readers). However, I disagree with the last sentence of his quote. I can agree with him, if he is meaning to say that if we view a world from an outside perspective objectively, then it is the ideal way. But at the same time, I felt that it is impossible to view a country from an outside perspective as a foreign country if you do not know any other countries. I just think that he needed to include some descriptions and explanations about this quote so that it would be able to avoid the confusion by the readers.
Next, when connecting this quote to the three axes, I personally do not think that it is just simple as it is. I think many readers would tie them as:
・Finding your country sweet is only a raw beginner.
→ Axiological level: good or bad
・Finding each country as your own is already strong.
→ Parxeological level: identifying self with others, imposing the image upon others
・Finding the world world as a foreign country is perfect.
→ Epistemic level: knowing others' identity and understanding the fact
Of course, I can understand and see this idea. For an example, if you take a close look at the quote, the scale of the "country" is increasing as the perspective and the way of thinking is developing. Also, as each level develops, the way people judge their values are developing in a "better" way; people are being able to understand more within a complicated complex scale.
The choice of words are the key in both this quote and the explanations of the three aces. Generally, I appreciate the word choices of Todorov, because I can understand the reason he is using the worlds for some specific definitions that those words can contain. However, at the same time, I think there are certain word choices where I feel he could have had a better decision about it.
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