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The Western world, otherwise called the West and the Occident, is combined of many different diverse countries and cities, including Rome, Greece, Jerusalem, and many more. The ancient western civilization was the development of the European people in the hunter-gatherer societies that first started to organize agricultural societies. Western human advancement is beneficiary to prior developments that were created out of the Mediterranean area. The idea of the Western area is its origins during the progress of the Greco-Roman civilizations in Europe, and the beginning of Christianity and other religions. The Middle Eastern developments made a strong establishment for Western civilization; they made the first urban areas and made huge accomplishments in composing, math, building, construction modeling, and science. The Western society has been intensely impacted by traditions of the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and Age of Enlightenment, and formed by the far-reaching colonialism during the fifteenth-twentieth centuries. Before the time during the Cold War, the traditional Western perspective distinguished Western Civilization with the Western Christian nations and society. In its broadest definition, Western progress is that aggregation of political, economic, social, and intellectual conventions that it has produced for 5,000 years since the appearance of the first human advancements in the Middle East. The advancements have helped the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious conventions to the West. Yet a considerably more essential viewpoint and logic that undergirds Western society initially showed up after 1000 BC in old Greece. Despite the fact that the Greeks acquired an extraordinary arrangement from the former Med... ... middle of paper ... ...the Arabian Peninsula worshiped symbols. These tribes habitually battled with each other. Every tribe had its own traditions representing marriage, hospitality, and vengeance. Unlawful acts against persons were answered with personal retaliation or were at times determined by a judge. Muhammad brought another religion into this riotous Arab world. Islam insisted that only one true God was present. It requested that adherents comply with God's will and laws. The Koran sets down fundamental gauges of human behavior, yet does not give a definite law code; it consists of a few verses dealing with arrangement with legal matters. Throughout his lifetime, Muhammad helped clear up the law by deciphering procurements in the Koran and going about as a judge in legitimate cases. Along these lines, Islamic law, the Sharia, turned into an important part of the Muslim religion.
Western Europe was more concerned with their Maker and the redemption of their souls than with their individual lives on earth. This meant that the development of their own philosophies and schools of thought would occur later than many other postclassical civilizations. However, the time period was not without achievement. It laid the ground for discoveries of tremendous importance that would change the known world forever.
Rodney Stark argues in his book How the West Won that although in the early Roman and Greek world there were many advancements and innovations, there were also many problems. As a Christian historian, he delves more into how Christianity was treated in this time period and how those who believed in God actually brought more advancements to early Western civilization.
“Why Western History Matters” is an essay adapted from a speech Donald Kagan delivered to the National Association of Scholars, and was reprinted in the December 28, 1994, issue of the Wall Street Journal. Throughout Kagan’s essay, he describes the essential need for the college course, Western History. He does so by examining older cultures and explaining why they were quintessential to the past and to our future development as a society. I strongly concur with Kagan’s standpoint of the necessity of history, and the realization of how exactly our flourishing society came about. History is a key constituent in determining who we are; for to determine who we are one must first know from whence they came. In the words of George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
The western worldview grew out of ideas that were brought about by the Black Death, the humanist movement, and religious reform. The Black Death killed most of Europe’s population, opening spots for jobs and spots to move in the feudal system. This caused people to think out of the box, it also helped people see that everyone had something in common king or serf. The humanist movement also had a key role that helped people see the bigger picture. Last but no least the religious reform also played a key role. After new ideas came from the humanisms people questioned things they hadn’t before. These are the three main topics for the growth of the western worldview.
In the Western sensibility, the march of progress is normally deemed positive and inevitable. In recent Western history, from the Middle Ages forward, successive improvements in the spread of knowledge, dissemination of culture, and the av...
AUTHOR: Oswald Spengler, (1880-1936), was a German philosopher who acquired his conservative views from his father, a postal official in Germany. Spengler attended the Universities of Munich, Berlin and Halle in Germany, where he studied natural science and mathematics. In 1903, he wrote his dissertation on a Greek philosopher named Heraclitus, though he failed due to a lack of references. Spengler resubmitted his revised thesis in 1904, earning him his doctorate degree. Shortly after earning his degree, Spengler suffered a mental break down, secluding himself from the world. In 1906, he recovered and began working as a teacher in secondary schools until he received some money from his mother. In 1911, Spengler gathered his inheritance and moved to Munich as a private scholar.
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion alongside Judaism and Christianity. It is currently the second largest religion in the world today. Its beliefs come from the Qur'an which literally means "the recitation" which is believed to be a literal transcription of the word of God. Its main prophet is named Muhammad who began Islam by speaking with the angel Gabriel in a cave during his meditation and then acting as an instrument of God to help write the Qur’an. Muhammad then spread Islam to the scattered tribes of Arabia by becoming the leader of Yathrib and using his wonderful leadership abilities to then grow his influence over virtually all of Arabia. Muhammad is known by Muslims to be the seal of the profits because no profits after Muhammad should be considered legitimate. Muhammad also left behind the Hadith or “tradition” which is a collection of writings compiled of reports of Muhammad’s actions as leader of Yathrib. These reports are used as a more specific code of ethics in day to day life and from these reports the 5 Pillars of Islam are derived (Smith 160). Although Islam shares many similarities to Judaism and Christianity it is often viewed in the US with hate derived from preconceived notions following the attack on September 11th 2001. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Islam’s history as well as its two major sects and 5 main pillars to remove preconceived notions and provide a glance into the minds of the Islamic people.
The Second Punic War, also called the Second Carthaginian War, took place from 218 to 201 B.C between the Roman Republic and Carthaginian Empire. There were three Punic Wars in all, resulting in Roman dominance over the Mediterranean. Rome saw how large Carthage was getting and how much power it was gaining. This, along with the fact that Carthage controlled three islands off the coast of Italy, was an issue for Rome. Rome insisted that Carthage join the Republic, to which Carthage disagreed. The two groups fought for twenty years, ending the wars when Carthage offered Rome the island of Sicily in exchange for peace. Rome took Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia. Carthage, lead by Hamilcar Barca, took off to fight Spain. Hamilcar’s son, Hannibal, was nine years old at the time. Before they left Carthage, Hamilcar made his son promise that when he was older he would fight Rome for revenge. Hannibal agreed, thus beginning the legend of Hannibal, military genius. (Second)
Reading articles and other sources on the topic, it seems that scholars associate the Western civilization with the Western culture. Some experts also associate Western Civilization with European civilization because most of the civilizations took place in Europe, particularly from the period of BC onwards. The major attributes of the Western civilizations included belief customs, ethical values, political systems, traditional customs, and certain artefacts that were unique to each civilization. Although such attributes were unique in their developments, they were classified as either foreign or indigenous based on their
The rise of the West refers to a period of time when Western Europe rose to power due to many environmental, political, and social factors. Many historians attribute the Rise of the West to the time period of 1450 to 1850. This power surge of Western Europe has been attributed to the global dominance of Western Europe and America in the 21 century. The interesting aspect regarding the Rise of the West is how Western Europe developed so differently from other parts of the world, leading it to be the superpower of the world. Over the past 50 years, the idea of the rise of the West has been closely re-examined. Prior to the 1950s, historians believed that the rise of the West occurred because it was destined to; because Europe is the best and strongest. It was luck, fate, and destiny that helped Europe and America reach where they are today. In the past 50 years, many historians begin to disagree. They do give credit to luck as being a factor in the rise of the West; however, they also credit the ideas, political climates, culture, and economics as driving forces behind the rise of the West. Three of the most widely accepted theories regarding the rise of the West are the theories stated by historians Andre Gunder Frank, David S. Landes, and R. Bin Wong. The ideas of the rise of the West are not merely only one of the three theories by Frank, Landes, or Wong; but rather a combination of all three.
The book Muhammad, by Michael Cook, describes the impact Muhammad has had on the world as we know it. It explains why Muhammad chose the paths he did, and how certain laws came about. Cook offers a very objective view of the laws and policies Muhammad outlined in the Koran, and the traditions that are carried on that supplement his written law.
Cole, Joshua, Judith G. Coffin, Carol Symes, and Robert Stacey. Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture. Brief Third ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. Print.
Throughout history, Western civilization has been an emerging force behind change in foreign societies. This is the concept that is discussed in the article the West Unique, Not Universal, written by Samuel Huntington. The author makes a very clear thesis sentence and uses a variety of evidence to support it. This article has a strong very convincing point. The thoughts expressed in this article can be related to a lot of events throughout history.
In "Civilization: The West and the Rest", author Niall Ferguson explains why Western civilization has provided modern Western civilization a lead over the rest of the world both past and present. The West is roughly assumed as the establishment of people and nations that live in the earth's northern hemisphere, stretching from the United States through Europe (Ferguson, pp. 14-15). Rather than a chronological narrative, Ferguson provides six chapters of what he calls “killer apps,” each addressing a main component in his response to the inquiry of Western power: 1) competition, both among and inside the European states; 2) science, starting with the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries; 3) the rule of law and representative
In the heart of the Mediterranean, one of the most important civilizations in history was born. A wealth of culture, great thinkers, and advancements sprung forth from its mountainous peninsulas and islands. Ancient Greece would influence the whole of western civilization as we know it today. From the way we live our lives, to the ideals we hold for ourselves, to the buildings we live and function in. The Ancient Greek civilization flourished for over a thousand years, overcoming adversities of every kind and still somehow becoming home to some of the most famous people, ideas, and buildings of all time.