Tuesday, June 21, 2016

The West - Its Significance

Much of the greatest achievements in science, medicine, government, philosophy, economics and human rights over the last millennium are the products of western thought. It is this pursuit that has ensured the transition and movement of our species to the most elevated level of progress in its collective history.

Western Civilization has a history plays out in the context of a survival  against the face of threats both internal and external. Driven by an obsession with progress the West has emerged as an active agent in the dynamic framework of human history and in so doing tells a story replete with characters, institutions, agents and states all acting against the back drop of the broadest of flourishing landscapes.

The story of the West can be divided into twelve attribute factors personified by the specific culture, time period or intellectual facet that so defines it. These are a. The Greeks b. The Romans c. The Judeo-Christian framework d. Invasion/Feudalism e. Renaissance/Reformation f. The Expansion g. Scientific Enlightenment h. Empire i. Industrialization j. Total War k. Transition and l. Fusion

While it is true that the West has built on ideas that may have had their genesis in the monoliths of China, India and the Near East – it is western ingenuity that has provided the wherewithal to advance these initiatives forward and so improve the human condition.

Suffice it to say the West serves as the Guardian of these great ideas whose preservation is essential to the maintenance of global civilization.

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