Civilization is the gradual process where a human group with a large population is ruled by highly organized government, some of the population of the group lives in cities, they build large and impressive religious and public buildings and keep written records of the affairs of the group. Civilization is a continuous process in the life of all mankind and it differs only slightly from one nation or continent to another. The main difference in civilization bores down to the cultural and the perspective view of the world to particular group of people during a particular period of time. The ingredients of civilization were inherited from Egypt and Mesopotamia. These people were the first to organize themselves in a manner that represents the modern day definition of civilization about 5000 years ago. As time went on, Greek and Rome learned from the Middle East civilization and begun a massive improvement on the ideas they learned. This resulted in the Mediterranean civilization. The Mediterranean and Middle East Civilization both are historically stated to happen between 3000 B.C – AD 500, a period of 3500 years. After this came the Christian Europe Civilization, also called Middle age Civilization. It took place for 1000 years between 500 – 1500 A.D. The uniqueness of Christian Europe Civilization is the believe that there is one Almighty God, the Creator of heaven, earth and all things that duel in it. This civilization ran concurrently with the non-Western civilization of Islam, due to the invasion of the Roman Empire by Arab conquerors who also believed in the worship of one God, Allah. From 1500 A.D, Modern civilization sprung and it incorporated parts of the old civilizations that were relevant and improved tremendously on the needs of mankind and how to live in a comfortable, convenient, luxurious, democratic, peaceful and environmentally friendly world. All these major groups of civilization were very similar except Modern civilization which has massively improved the ideas of those of the past to bring the world to another level all together. According to Greer, all traditional civilizations had the following features; agrarian societies- majority of the population were farmers, elites who ruled and made decisions for the entire group, practiced slavery, religion was their single most important source of inspiration for most areas of thought and values and they all had mutual influence and conflicts among their neighbors, which weakens the farther away. Greer, Thomas H, and Gavin Lewis. A Brief History of the Western World, 9th ed. (Boston, MA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2005), xxv. In Modern Civilization of the world, most nations are industrial societies, slavery abolished, secular ideologies claimed to guide, subordination of women replaced by equality and power shared among people of the society.
Western Civilization is the culmination of thousands of years of societal development with its roots going back to the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Mesopotamians. The traditions of the West flow directly from Greece to Rome and then Christian European Civilization in the secular states of Europe. Western Civilization is not monolithic or static, it continually changes to meet new circumstances, and there is continuity with the past and an appreciation of where it came from. Western civilization covers Europe, North America, and descendants of European settlers in other parts of the world. The west is more a cast of mind than a geographical area; it is defined more by its attitudes than location. North America is included because of the strong European influences on its present society, but historically the west is centered in Europe. A civilization is western when its people have the following attitudes and perspectives of the world; openness to rational scientific inquiry, the acceptance of certain universal rights, democracy, equality, tolerance for dissenting views, relatively highly developed material position and expectation of certain standards of living.
Western Civilization erupted from the Christian Europe civilization when they decided to break away from their traditional pattern of life and adopt a more modernized way of life. According to Greer, the changes were slow in the beginning but gradually gathered speed until in the last 200 years they have run at breakneck pace. Greer and Lewis, A Brief History of the Western World, xxi. Western Civilization begun when Western Europe started to demonstrate new vigor around A.D. 1000 forming new schools and a more elaborate culture; expanding trade and towns, while loosening the most restrictive aspects of manorial social organization. The Civilizations of North America, Western Europe and descendants of Western settlers are considered western. They were identified as people who inherit civilization from Greece, Rome and Christian Europe. According to Greer, the label of the “west” was used partially because the civilization of Greece and Rome sprung from the westward spread of civilization from the Middle East. Greer and Lewis, A Brief History of the Western World, xxiii. This also amplifies the idea that it’s a conceptual west but not a geographical west that has come to be the name of the civilization of North America, Europe and all descendants of the Christian Europe civilization. Western Civilization is also characterized by some good and bad features by which it can easily be identified. In general, according to Greer, those who criticize the west declared it’s civilization to have the following bad features; imperialism, class conflict, manipulation of the masses by the elite, genocide, racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, environmental pollution, consumerism and dumbed-down mass entertainment. Greer and Lewis, A Brief History of the Western World, xxv. These claims are not invented by the west but an embodiment of some of the pieces of civilization upon which the west was constructed. It can be concluded that the good deeds of western civilization overcome the negative sides and western civilization continues to lead the world.
