Civilization

From Philosopedia

CIVILIZATION

“Civilization” to many is a word with as many useless encrustments as “humanism.”

Some Europeans have joked that the symbol of American civilization is the tail fin on a Cadillac automobile.

Lexicographers define civilization as “a relatively high level of cultural and technological development.”

The Economist in 1994 inquired why one group of men felt the need to kill another group, suggesting that what is involved is a conflict of specific interests, a clash of life-shaping ideas; and one group’s belief that it is in blood and bone superior to the rest. The fundamental fear, that there will be a general war between Islam and the West, was followed by, “Not again, for heaven’s sake.” In short, the editors hoped that in the 20th century we would not return to the time of Pope Urban II, who in a sermon at Claremont in 1095 brought about the First Crusade against Islam.

At the same time, The Economist noted the potential problems, the differences between the two groups concerning ideology, skin color, and conflicts of interest.

In 3001, according to the novel of the same name by Arthur C. Clarke, the character Ted Khan is described as being “still famous back on Earth for at least two of his sayings: ‘Civilization and Religion are incompatible’ and ‘Faith is believing what you know isn’t true.’ ”

Meanwhile, Samuel Huntington, a professor of Harvard University, holds that there currently are eight civilizations, or cultures, five of which (the Latin American, African, Slavic, Hindu, Japanese, Buddhist) are not potential problems. The three cultures he cites are

• the West, the Euro-American culture that is the product of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, and is the begetter of modern capitalism and democracy;

• Confucian, the body of ideas that has grown up around the Chinese language and the habits of public life that are said to belong to the Chinese region; and

• Islam, which claims to be an idea based upon a transcendental certainty, that of the word of God, revealed syllable by syllable to Muhammad in a dusty corner of Arabia 1,400 years ago, and copied down by him into the Qur’an.

Brian Beedham of The Economist has argued that the West and the 1.2 billion followers of Islam have every reason to cease their perpetual confrontation, that they should not overlook the Confucian.

(See entry for Kong Fu-zi.)