Is the Western civilization really that great as many seem to praise?

Question

The Greek thinkers were awesome...I don't think anyone can really hate the Greeks...they weren't evil (except Alexander the Great).....but from a scientific/mathematical standpoint, the West has done much gone....but everything else....

The Romans essentially forged the Western world and gave it a lot of contributions...but what exactly is Roman Law? And weren't they cruel oppressors..even to Jews?

I am starting to see that the West...from 1500s (when Europe finally started to become a major player in the world) is good at being dominant at the expense of other countries/civilizations. European Imperialism and Colonization? The British Empire? The French and Italians?

Within the short 200-year span of Western dominance, there have been more world wars, genocides and economic crisis than the nearly thousand-year rule of Eastern civilizations like Persia, India and China...those three. Why is that? And even today, with America (along with the Anglo powers) invading the Middle East...heck, even America was stolen and robbed off from the Native Americans.

Anyway, despite my rant, the world is going through a MASSIVE shift in the global balance of power...the center of gravity seems to be shifting....and it's happening very fast for a lot of people to the extent of deliberate denial or complete ethno-centric ignorance. Thoughts?

Western civilization...superior to all? Or just one of the best? Or hoax?

Answer 1

It depends on how you define 'great'.



In an economic and cultural sense then yes western civilization has been very great for the past 500 or 600 years.



In terms of morality, peacefulness and how they relate to the world and other human beings then they have their shortcomings and I prefer the likes of China and other Asian cultures. It's funny that in the past, China with all of its wealth and power never committed genocide, ethnic cleansing and invasions of foreign countries on the scale of the Europeans. China set up trading posts in Africa and many Chinese settled there, but they never enslaved anybody, wiped out entire cultures or stole land. Half of the western world has its foundations in GENOCIDE (USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, etc). I think western people are inherently intolerant and violent people, e.g. just look at the treatment of Jews throughout Europe in comparison to what they experienced in India, North Africa and the Middle East.

Answer 2

China is fast becoming a super power but this communist state still has many short comings. America the present world power also has short comings although far different to China. I would vote that western Europe is the best place to live at this present time in history probably why there are so many immigrants from numerous countries trying to reach there by whatever means they can find. This in itself has to prove something.

Answer 3

"Within the short 200-year span of Western dominance, there have been more world wars, genocides and economic crisis than the nearly thousand-year rule of Eastern civilizations like Persia, India and China...those three."



You commit a logical fallacy by making a false association between "Western dominance" and alleged prevalence of "war and crisis".

The reason this is a logical fallacy is because you fail to make the logical connection as to why b resulted from a and instead imply that a caused b.

For example, we do not say that Nazism was evil merely because millions suffered and died from it, rather we say it was evil because the ideas inherit IN Nazism is what caused millions to suffer and die.

So, you say that two world wars occurred under "Western dominance". But does that mean that the inherit ideas of Western thought were the direct cause of those two world wars? I wouldn't say that.



Update:

You wrote: "Logic tells me that the root of the cause MUST lie in some way or form of Western thought. "

And there in is your problem. You say Logic tells YOU.

But you haven't presented that logic to ME (or anyone else).

Rather, what you really should say is the following: "I think that because this things happened within Western dominance therefore Western ideas MAY be the direct or indirect cause of those things". To which the next LOGICAL step is for YOU to demonstrate that causation. As of now, you haven't done so.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc

Quote:

"Post hoc ergo propter hoc, Latin for "after this, therefore because of this," is a logical fallacy (of the questionable cause variety) that states, "Since that event followed this one, that event must have been caused by this one.""

Answer 4

Something worth reading -- on this website? Although I can't contribute much substance, in my opinion, what you're describing makes a lot of sense. My only gripe is that you're pushing the envelope when you argue that it's "the single commonality among all great civilizations." In my opinion, that isn't true -- that would be logic and empathy or, in other words, cerebral health. It's good to know that brain dysfunction in the hippocampus, induced by prolonged stress or intense but transient trauma, can be reversed. Through neuroplasticity, learning about emotions and psychological concepts develops one's prefrontal cortex, allowing its higher-order feedback loops (consciousness) to regulate certain emotions through their connections to the limbic system. Similarly, the experience of love allows for the synaptic pruning of unwanted neurons through the release of the neuromodulators oxytocin and vasopressin. As such, love appears to be the only way to completely get rid of or avoid most mental disorders resulting from trauma, as it is the only way to get rid of (versus by-passing or overriding) unhealthy or unused synaptic connections. This, I believe, gives credence to your hypotheses on many fronts.

Answer 5

What is your point?

Centuries ago shift of the power meant taking other people lands, resources and even enslaving them.

Lands- Russia should worry about her lands.

Resources- Arabs and other Muslims should worry about oil.

Enslaving????

Are Chinese people planning to enslave others?