Civilization and Culture

For purposes of this paper the discussion of historical developments will be from the 4th Century BCE onward. With the exception of a few major period breakdowns the focus will be on a broad look at major categories of civilizations (i.e. Western, Eastern, and Middle Eastern). Earlier civilizations such as in Mesopotamia, India, Africa, and China will not be considered, nor will later ones in Mesoamerica.

A civilization is defined as a form of human organization with a complex social, economic, and political structure. Characteristics usually include: a relatively large population comprising a formal state(s) with large urban centers; division of labor, social stratification; and a recognizable and generally shared culture.

The culture of a civilization consists of a generally accepted common set of values, beliefs, customs, body of knowledge, language, artistic forms, and rules and standards.

Historical developments in different civilizations and their cultures may foster some significant differences in their philosophical worldviews, religions, values and material achievements.

Early Development of Humanism

Advent of the humanist movement during the Western Renaissance (15th-16th Centuries CE) was strongly related to studies of the humanities with the revival of Ancient Greek philosophy texts provided by Middle Eastern scholars during the latter Middle Age period. Indeed, study of the humanities was a major impetus to the Renaissance humanist movement. Greek philosophy also included foundational ideas for science (e.g. Aristotle). During the Western Middle Ages significant advances were made in mathematics and science in Middle Eastern culture, but were relatively minimal and seminal in the West.

Also important, but sometimes neglected in discussions of the early humanist movement, were the contrasting philosophical/theological ideas of two prominent Christian thinkers. Augustine of Hippo (4th Century CE) presented a negative picture of the existence of humans on Earth. Life was depicted as sinful in a worldly environment. The only reasonable purpose of life in this world was to prepare for the“City of God,” a Heavenly City. Centuries later Thomas Aquinas (13th Century) had other ideas. Aquinas, while not a humanist, was a sophisticated philosophical thinker who deserves credit for laying some of the groundwork for the Humanist Movement. He advocated a philosophy of reason and freedom in regard to exploring knowledge of this world that contributed to groundwork for the development of the philosophy and practice of science. He stressed the importance of a“City of Man” concept; living a good life of happiness in this world. The Catholic Church seems to have had a love-hate relationship with Aquinas over the centuries. Revered at times, his attempt to synthesize Classical Greek, Augustinian, Christian, and his own relatively liberal thinking got him in trouble with Church authority.

The Renaissance Humanist Movement was of great importance to the Scientific Revolution (16th-17th Centuries). Knowledge and understanding of Existence with as much accuracy as possible is a major humanist value; a value including our physical universe and human health, behavior, purpose, and goals. An examination of“The Affirmations of Humanism, a Statement of Principles” by Paul Kurtz and the Neo-Humanist statement on the last pages of this journal will clearly show the major relationship between science and humanist values.

Comparing Western, Eastern, and Middle Eastern Civilizations

Thus far in human history science has provided the greatest knowledge and understanding of the universe and how it works. This has not only been an intellectual accomplishment, but has also provided numerous practical spinoffs regarding human health and welfare. Overall, advancement in science historically has been most rapid and outstanding in Western Civilization. Why? A few explanatory points will be considered.

In the West, with the exception of the Middle Ages, philosophy and religion tended to develop independent of each other. Science grew out of philosophy and was thus relatively little influenced by religion. Indeed, science and religion have often been in conflict regarding worldviews. In the East religion and philosophy have tended to develop together, a condition not conducive to scientific exploration. Associated with these developments has been an acceptance of objective physical reality (notwithstanding quantum mechanics or postmodern philosophy) in the West, while in the East reality has been seen as elusive and illusionary. Science deals with objective physical reality.

In the West reductionism has been one favored method of scientific study and has proved to be a powerful one. Influenced by philosophy and religion, holism has been favored in the East. Try to imagine an initial understanding of how the human body or ecosystems work by way of an initial holistic approach. Western science realized earlier than in the East that to eventually understand the“whole thing” regarding complex systems an initially reductionist methodology would work best.

Another point of comparison is the attempt in the West to understand, and even control, Nature, while in the East the approach is more nearly to adjust to the ways of Nature (e.g. Daoism). It now appears that we Westerners should have been listening to the voices from the East.

Approaches to governance have also played a part in East-West differential scientific development. Democratic forms of governance developed earlier in the West, while authoritarian forms persisted longer in the East. Democracy tends to facilitate diversity in societies, including intellectual diversity, which in turn likely helped to promote scientific thinking.

Credit should be given to Eastern technological developments (e.g. China) and to India for a flourishing period (4th-8th Centuries CE) of advancements in mathematics, astronomy, and technology.

While Western and to a lesser extent Eastern Civilizations have shown overall patterns of advancement in science, although quite differential timewise, the Middle East is a different matter. Building partially on some earlier mathematical and scientific achievements in the broad Mediterranean region and in India, the Middle East had a very flourishing intellectual period including mathematical and scientific advancement during the Western Middle Ages. However, with the advent of the Muslim religion intellectual scholarship became suspect and eventually in serious conflict with theocratic authority. That continues to be the sad situation currently.

Concluding Thoughts

I could be accused of bias. Nevertheless, from a standpoint of the historical“Big Picture” it certainly does appear that Western Civilization has provided the most by way of scientific achievement. And that certainly has a strong relationship to the values of humanism. The purpose of this paper has been to examine why the West has made this achievement more robustly than others. It appears that differential philosophical, religious, and governance developments around the globe have had a significant role.

Religion has generally not been helpful to science. Philosophy in the West has been helpful in that science developed out of philosophy and the philosophy of science discipline has provided guidance for scientific practice. Currently, it looks like science is influencing philosophy more than the other way around. However, let’s not become complacent here. We should keep an open mind. Might it be that Eastern thought could ultimately give answers to the“Big Questions?”

References

Bronowski, J. and Bruce Mazlish. The Western Intellectual Tradition. New York, N.Y.: Harper and Row, 1975.

Feibleman, James K. Understanding Philosophy: A Popular History of Ideas. New York, N.Y.: Horizon Press, 1973.

Ferris, Timothy. Coming of Age in the Milky Way. New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins, Perennial, 2003.

Herman, Arthur. _The Cave and the Light: Plato vs Aristotle and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization. New York, N.Y.: Random House, 2013.

Reese, William L. Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought. Amherst, N.Y.: Humanity Books, 1996.

Solomon, Robert C. and Kathleen M. Higgins. A Passion for Wisdom: a Very Brief history of Philosophy. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Tarnas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View. New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1991.

Van Doren, Charles. A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future. New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1991.