Civilization
According to Littre , the word civilization, used from the mid-eighteenth century, appears in the dictionary of the Academy in 1835, five years after the landing of French troops in Algeria, landing signal the beginning of the colonial French. By "ancient civilizations" is usually understood, those born before 1500 before the start of "Modern Times".
The term civilization - derived indirectly from the Latin meaning "citizen" through "civil" and "civilize" - has been used in different ways throughout history. It has three main meanings in French:
- civilization, the most common sense, is the act of civilizing, that is to say to bring a company to a level considered higher and more evolved, and that, by metonymy, the state reached this advanced society. This understanding includes a notion of progress . Equal status to all civilizations is recognized, although not observed, especially when peoples have retained traditional practices ( Awa , Punan , etc..) are driven to extinction by multinationals clearing their land.
- civilization is also the set of features that characterize the evolutionary state of a given society, both technical , intellectual , political than moral , without making value judgments. As such, we can speak of civilizations in the plural, and even primitive civilizations (but beware, the word primitive can be connoted with "inferior". We must make no value judgments here to mean "first" or "the oldest known ").
- state reached by a few cultures in the history of mankind. This acceptance is in the direct line of theories evolutionists of the nineteenth century, since refuted in favor of more neutral theories.
Summary |
Early civilizations have left enough traces to be identified as such are Sumer , the ancient Egypt , the valley of the Indus and China. The features of these groups are seen as differentiating institutions like previous Neolithic , a key element of the break with the Neolithic is the discovery and control of agriculture , which leads to a new organization of space and the human activity. To qualify as a civilization, it must consolidate most of the following:
Five primary criteria ( organization )
- the presence of a city (sedentary populations)
- specialization of full-time work
- concentration of surplus production
- class structure (hierarchy)
- polity (state)
Five secondary criteria (physical achievements)
- Monumental Works
- long-distance trade
- monumental artistic achievements
- writing (accounts, records, etc.).
- science (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy)
A standard of behavior
Civilization develops standards of conduct in society, like chivalry. A society often defines his ideal type of man (the "good man" of Confucius, the "honest man" of seventeenth-century Europe, the "gentleman" in Victorian England ...).
Civilized behavior is one that allows men to live together peacefully. A myth related by Plato in Protagoras distinguished contributions to the art of those of civilization. Prometheus gave men the arts and sciences, but men do not agree and enjoy the present: they continue to live like animals. Zeus then provides them with decency and justice, that is to say, the possibility of taking into account other members of society and address the different peaceful and orderly manner: men can then construct a life in town. Civilization appears as a way for men to rise above the animal condition.
Until the eighteenth century , the idea of civilization is expressed by the words "civility" and "civility." These words contain a connotation , justified or not, of moral superiority: the nobility of the working classes of Europe on the "barbarians." Saint-Simon in 1717, is fascinated by the mixture in the Tsar Peter I er , visiting Paris, a "polite" and remarkable "that ancient barbarism of his country which rendered all his manners prompt, even hasty, his will uncertain. Is that civilization is observed not only in the life of the city, but also in all the circumstances of everyday life: table manners, body control in society ... Norbert Elias has studied this " process civilization "he said, the higher classes of society had to learn gradually to control their impulses to adapt to a world in which the contacts between individuals are increasingly important condition for appearance of the modern state.
Civilization presupposes the existence of laws and regulations designed to prevent people from becoming violent. But the possession of forces authorized to use violence, such as the police or the army does not disqualify a culture that pretends to be civilized. What distinguishes civilized country, but rather the way violence is used: in a modern state, any armed force facing the state, which has the "monopoly of legitimate violence 'by the expression of Max Weber.
The term "civilization" appears in the middle of the eighteenth century , in the work of Mirabeau father. Subsequently, civilization becomes more and more as a process: companies move from a state of "barbaric" in a civilized state, characterized by the "softening of manners" (Mirabeau). However, if the European company has achieved this ideal, why the world could it not also claim it? In addition, throughout the nineteenth century , the association between progress and technical progress of civilization seems clear. Therefore, Europe, helped by its advanced technology and military, will feel invested in a civilizing mission to launch (or a posteriori to justify) the colonization of Africa and parts of Asia.
Key events within these societies to Western twentieth century , including fifteen years in power of Nazism from 1933 to 1945 , consequently lead to relativize the notion of civilization. No attempt little more today to speak with a unidirectional progress of societies, nor do we speak of "barbarian" or "savages." At most, do we speak of "civilizations" in the plural. Significantly, at the same time that anthropologists and artists West in search of what these other cultures can inspire as our civilization advances, those other civilizations make their choice on their part that they wish to take or leave it in the culture or Western art: the Ayatollah Khomeini , who rejects Westernization of Iran proposed by the Shah , did not lead at least its share of communication by audio cassettes, a product of the West itself (it 's will explain to Oriana Fallaci ). Gandhi , who has previously done well for India, does not mean that refuses its optical technology. Moreover, India had itself already well set the zero to the rest of the world.
A cultural phenomenon
One school of thought defines civilization as an identity cultural associated to each individual to "the largest subdivision of the humanity with which he can identify with. " It therefore represents a larger group than the family , the tribe , the city of residence, region or the nation. Civilizations are often linked to religion or other belief systems.
For classification purposes, the historian Arnold Toynbee Joseph distinguishes twenty-six with their ascents and declines. It is also the thesis of Samuel Huntington , for whom the global conflicts of the modern era were witnesses. Worst, the book Collapse by Jared Diamond shows how in the past several civilizations ( Easter Island , Maya , Greenland ...) themselves have their own collapse caused by neglect of the long term. The subtitle of his book Ad unambiguous: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
The concept of " empire "is superimposed on that of" civilization. "
A tool of oppression?
Some postmodernists and anarchists reject the term as undesirable and argue that a hierarchy can not take into account the complexity of each situation.
Few dispute that there is any way in any society in the world of people who are happier with her and others who would be happier without it. Quantify, however the number of individuals in one case or another is difficult. Films like Koyaanisqatsi to Western civilization, Powaqqatsi for other civilizations of the world testify to the great difficulty to have a qualitative idea.
Sigmund Freud , in Civilization and Its Discontents , establish an inventory of frustration brought about by modern society and examines the balance sheet in return for compensation it offers safety, health, culture and art. He mentions that the accumulation of these frustrations can sometimes lead to violent reactions (see: Death Instinct ). These points will also be identified by Wilhelm Reich , Herbert Marcuse , etc..
Henri Laborit in Man and the City (the urbanization often accompanies civilization) highlights the fact that it works like a machine used to smooth juxtaposition of large inequalities of conditions that would not be tolerated in another context.
An objective test?
Consideration of the administration ( all water-borne sewerage , toilets , ...) - the lack of pure respect for health and environmental conditions and comfort - organic waste mankind.
Cuts civilizational
Overviews
Are presented here, the extent of Civilization, radiation, duration, the remains have left traces until today (not exhaustive).
| Regional Groups | Civilization | Main states |
|---|---|---|
| America | Civilizations of North America | Inuit , North American Indians (tribes) |
| Civilizations of Mesoamerica | Olmec , Maya , Toltec , Aztec , Zapotec , Totonac , Teotihuacan etc.. | |
| Andean civilizations | Empire Huari , Chimu , Nazca , Chavin , Inca | |
| Civilizations in South America | Amerindians of Amazonia , from Mato Grosso , from Argentina | |
| Mediterranean Europe | Civilizations of Greece | Minoans , Aegean, Mycenaean , Dorian , Ionian (city states), Hellenistic (Empire of Alexander , Seleucids , the Kingdom of Pergamum ) |
| Roman | Roman Republic , Roman Empire | |
| Etruscan | City-State | |
| Byzantine | Byzantine Empire | |
| Europe "barbaric" | Civilizations of Western Europe | Celts , Iberians , Liguria (tribes) |
| Civilizations of Northern Europe | Germanic , Slavic , Baltic , Finnish (tribes) | |
| Thracian-Dacian | Thracians , Cimmerians , etc.. (Tribes) | |
| Kingship | Empire Franc ( Merovingian , Carolingian ), Ostrogoths , Visigoths , Gepidae , Vandals | |
| Viking | Kingdom of Denmark , Norway , Sweden , Varangian | |
| Africa | Egyptian | Egyptian Empire, the Kingdom of the Ptolemies |
| Carthaginian | Republic of Carthage | |
| Berber and Libyan | Saharan tribes, Kingdom of Numidia , Kingdom of Mauretania | |
| Guinean and Sudanese civilizations | Mali Empire , Songhai Empire , Empire of Ghana , Kingdom of Benin , Kanem-Bornu , Nok Civilization | |
| Civilizations of Central and Southern Africa | Kingdom of Kongo , Luba , Grand | |
| Ethiopian Cushitic | Kingdom of Kush , kingdom of Meroe , the Kingdom of Axum , Ethiopia Empire | |
| Near East and Middle East | Mesopotamian Civilization | Sumer , Akkad , Babylon , Ashur , Ur , Mari |
| Levantine civilizations | Canaan , Phoenicia , Aram | |
| Jewish | Kingdom of Israel , Kingdom of Judah (now State of Israel) | |
| Arabic (pre-Islamic) | Hand, Saba , Hadhramaut , Yemen , Kinda, Oman | |
| Arab-Muslim / Islamic | Umayyad , Abbasid , Fatimid , Ayyubid , Alawi , Almohad , Almoravids , etc.. | |
| Civilizations of Anatolia and the Caucasus | Hurrian , Hittite Empire , Mitanni , Phrygia , Ourarthou , Kingdom of Lydia | |
| Iranian | Kassites , Elam , empires Persian ( Achaemenid , Sassanid , Safavid ), the Median , Parthian Empire , Greco-Bactrian Kingdom , Kushan empire , Ghaznavids | |
| Turkish | Mamluk , Samani , Seljuk , Il-Khans , Tamerlane , Ottoman Empire | |
| Continental Asia | Nomads of Central Asia | Scythian , Yueh-Cheh , Huns , Turkmen , Uighur , Kyrgyz , Mongolian , Xiongnu , Xianbei , Tungus , Alans , Khazars , etc.. |
| Siberian | Samoyed , Turkish Northern, Evenki , Paleo-Siberian (clans) | |
| Far East | Korean | Goryeo , Silla , North Korea and South Korea |
| Japan | Empire of Japan | |
| Chinese | Chinese Empire (great dynasties: Qin , Han , Tang , Song , Yuan , Ming , Qing ) | |
| Tibetan | Kingdom of Tibet | |
| South Asia | Indian Civilization | Harappa (Indus Valley), empires Maurya , Gupta , Delhi Sultanate , Mughal , India, colonial and postcolonial |
| Civilizations of Southeast Asia | Thailand , Khmer Empire , Viet Nam / Viet Dai , Dong Son , Fu-Nan , Champa , Srivijaya |
| Civilization | Location |
|---|---|
| Western | United States , Canada , Western Europe , Southern Cone , Australia and New Zealand |
| Latin American | Latin America (except the Southern Cone ) |
| Soviet and former Soviet | Central and Eastern Europe (except Greece) |
| African colonial and postcolonial | SSA |
| Arabic | North Africa, Middle East |
| India and Southeast Asia | Indian subcontinent, Tibet, Burma , Thailand , the former Indochina , archipelagos of Southeast Asia |
| Far East | China , Korea , Japan , ( Singapore ) |
| Oceania | Melanesia , Micronesia , Polynesia |
Some areas are characterized as a contact zone between several groups:
- The Turkey , between the West and the Arab world
- The Central Asian influenced by Iranian and Arab world and by Russia , while keeping its nomadic roots
- The horn of East Africa, between the Arab world and Black African
Finally, the world Jewish and Hebrew is a special case: since it has built a unique culture, one can call it civilization, but apart from Israel , it has no defined geographical area.
Synopsis
The following table, although incomplete, suggests another approach with a classification by geographical area and period of different cultures and civilizations of the world.
Synopsis of civilizations and cultures of Humanity
| Current countries that are born and where many great civilizations are superimposed: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Mali, Guinea, Ghana, Benin, Congo, Nigeria, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Turkey , Iran, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru. |
Quotes
- What men call "civilization" is the current state of morals and what they call "barbaric", these are the previous states.
- There are infinitely more men who accept the hypocritical civilization that men really and truly civilized.
- "Every civilization (...) shall, within each nation, each State's particular characteristics. But the most essential elements that constitute it are the thing or of a State or of a people and they transcend borders, they spread from foci determined by a power expansion of their own, or they result from the relationships established between different companies and are their common work (. ..) (...) Civilization is a kind of moral environment encompassing a number of nations, each national culture is only a particular form at all. " Emile Durkheim
- "What history does not forget." Marcel Mauss
- We civilizations, we now know that we are mortal.
- A civilization arises when men without genius what is believed lost.
- Imperialism is pure civilization. The fate of the West in this phenomenon is irrevocable. The cultured man has his energy inward, the civilized outside.
- The civilization of enjoyment itself is condemned to death when she loses interest in the future.
- They are especially weak intellectual and moral leaders and their ignorance that endanger our civilization.
- What we call civilization has contributed to some of society happier and more unhappy than the other one and the other would have been in a state of nature.
- "It is the knowledge, belief, art, law, custom, and all other skills and habits acquired by man as a member of society." E. Tyler, 1871
References
- Marquis de Mirabeau, Essay on Population (1756): Civilization is an ideal of progress to be achieved in both social and cultural material
- Speech by President Wilson after World War II, Right of peoples to self-determination.
- read Renaissance historiography about the abandonment of the Hegelian concept.
- Luca Corchia La logica dei Processi culturali. Jrgen Habermas tra filosofia e Sociologia , Genova, Edizioni ECIG, 2010, ISBN 978-88-7544-195-1.
See also
Bibliography
- Synopsis of world history, Louis-Henri Fournet. Edition sides. ISBN: 978-2868610157
- Paul Trouillas, Separation and Civilization, Hermann Documents, Editions Hermann , 2010
Related articles
Internal Links
- Culture , Arts and zones of contact between civilizations ;
- Alcibiades Didascalis , brief history of the civilizations of the Mediterranean basin ;
- Civilization , Emerson
- Kardashev scale (astronomy)
External Links
- (En) History of Civilization (flash interactive map)
- (In) civilization coming without fear ... Richard Andrew.
Links museums
| Crop types | legitimate culture mass culture popular culture cons-culture subculture cultural capital tradition oral culture civilization culture (ethology) |  |
| Transmission of culture | socialization education acculturation assimilation transculturation cultural influence cultural hegemony ethnocide | |
| Theories on the dynamics | diffusionism culturalism ( Pierre Bourdieu ) structuralism | |
| Disciplines | Ethnology anthropology sociology ethology | |
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