A historical perspective on the Western civilization Essay Example for Free

A historical perspective on the Western civilization Essay In our day, we instinctively associate Western Civilization with liberty, individualism and reason. However, liberal democracy is more recent phenomena. Many crucial aspects of the civilization of Western countries of today developed from the time of French and American revolutions. The nineteenth century laid a strong foundation to the twentieth century Western civilization. Before 1800 CE, however, the modern Western civilization was in many ways in formative stages. For example, the radical belief in human equality, under the premise that all men are born equal, was framed in the American constitution only in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. From its origins in the aftermath of the fall of Roman Empire to the beginning of the nineteenth century, Western Civilization had experienced two radically different phases, the one preceding Renaissance, and the one during and following Renaissance. The beginnings of the age of Renaissance mark a clear break from the Dark Ages in the thinking, attitudes and world-view of the people. The gradual emergence of logical and analytical thought, the blossoming of rational and a rigorously scientific world-view is a most unique phenomenon in the whole history of humanity. It is this most fundamental characteristic of the Western vivilization that has paved the way for technology and progress, creating the modern world. The outburst of rational thinking in Europe during the four hundred years from 1400–1800 CE is chiefly responsible for taking humanity to the next stage of evolution. It was the most defining period not only of Western vivilization, but of human civilization as such. Although there is a tremendous contrast between the Medieval Ages and the Age of Renaissance, it has come to the light of modern scholarship that the cultural achievements of the so-called Dark Ages in Europe, lasting for roughly thousand years between 400 1400 CE, have been many and varied. This period, particularly during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, has witnessed great cultural flourishing in its own right. Those times were not lacking in significant events and meaningful and though-enriching contributions to Western civilization. It is nevertheless justifiable to call them the Dark Ages, because, despite an interesting measure of cultural efflorescence, those periods were not marked by the freedom of the human mind, something that has become the quintessential characteristic of the Western civilization in more recent centuries. Most civilizations all the world over have witnessed an outburst of art and creativity at some period or other. However, except for Athens in the 5th century BC, Alexandria just before the commencement of Dark Ages, and Baghdad during 8th and 9th centuries A. D. , all of which had been stifled enterprises, no civilization in history of mankind launched a systematic and sustained quest into the reality of man and the natural world. It is this Socratic quest for knowledge, truth and meaning of human life that lies at the heart of the precious and unique phenomenon that the Western civilization is.