Foundations of Western Civilization-II (Pt-2 of 2) - Lecture-II

Foundations of Western Civilization-II (Pt-1 of 2) - Lecture-II This is the Second Lecture of a long course comprising of forty-eight lectures, where one explores the essential contours of the human experience in what has come to be called "Western civilization," A-What do we mean when we speak of "the West"? ....1.... We can define this term culturally: free and participatory political institutions, capitalist economies, religious toleration, rational inquiry, an innovative spirit, and so on. ....2.... We can define the term geographically: a cultural tradition that began around the Mediterranean Sea, spent centuries as a European preserve, then migrated to all the earth. ....3....Any definition brings controversy: The West has had freedom and slavery; women have historically enjoyed fewer rights and opportunities than men; some have enjoyed vast wealth while others endured deep poverty. ....4....Definitions also bring paradox: Western civilization began in what is now Iraq, but it would be hard to make a case now for Iraq as Western. Today, Japan, in the "Far East," seems "Western"; in the Cold War years, Turkey was Western while Libya, far to the west of Turkey, was Eastern. B-"Civilization" is no easier to define. ....1....The word itself is built from a Latin root civ—. We see this in such Latin words as civis (citizen), civitas (city), civilis (civil, polite, citizen-like). Thus, cities appear crucial to our sense of what civilization is. ....2....The Greek ...