Western Culture: A Collective Achievement

2004

Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2014

In recent years, the 'Western tradition' has increasingly come under attack in anticolonialist and postmodernist discourses. It is not difficult to sympathise with the concerns that underlie advocacy of historically marginalised traditions, and the West undoubtedly has a lot to answer for. Nonetheless, while arguing a qualified yes to the central question posed for this special issue, we question the assumption that the West can be neatly distinguished from alternative traditions of thought. We argue that there is fundamental implicit and explicit agreement across traditions about the most difficult of issues and on standards about how to reason about them, and that the 'West' has demonstrably learned from within and without itself. But we question the very viability under conditions of heightened globalisation and neo-colonialism of distinguishing between thought of the 'West' and thought outside the West. It is time to move beyond the reified assumptions that underlie the idea of 'Western thought', cast as an agent with a collective purpose.

Ballantine Books, 1991

New Blackfriars, 2007

The concept of cultural identity is illustrated by the example of Latin America. At the same time Latin America is shown to be a true part of the Western world and understandable only as such, and the reasons for other cultural identifications of Latin America are examined. Then the cultural development and identity of the West as a whole is considered, with special reference to two competing accounts of Western cultural development, both of which focus chiefly on the econonmic development of Europe and North America, in contrast to its cultural or spiritual roots. Finally the special case of the United States is looked at, and it is asked how her peculiar self-understanding affects her cultural identity as part of the Western world.

BÍLEK, Petr A.; PAPOUŠEK, Vladimír. Models of Representations in Czech Literary History. Boulder: East European Monographs, 2010. 209 p. ISBN 978-0-88033-680-2.

FOREWORD This book studies the relationship between the West and the East starting with an analysis of the conceptual theories of modernity and its global nature. It describes how the modern western world functions, internally and externally; how it began; how it relates to the rest of the world; and what effect this has culturally on non-Western countries. The integration of modern values in non-Western countries has resulted in a structural transformation in those countries which would make it very difficult for them to return to their former values. However, the integration of Western values into non-Western societies has led to the adaptation of modern ideas to suit local circumstances, resulting in the creation of a local modernity – the idea of a modernity beyond the West. However, 'A Modernity Beyond the West' is not a book against the West. It neither takes sides nor argues a political point but rather reflects on the birth of a new era where the emergence of globalization encourages non-Western societies to create their own unique cultural, economic and political identities. These new emerging societies are dual societies, neither totally modern in the Western sense nor totally traditional in the Eastern sense. Instead they have their own unique characteristics. We are witnessing an extraordinary era where, for the first time, a complete dissociation between modernity and the West is occurring. This era is the beginning of modern non-Western countries. The colonial era, as well as the neo-or post-colonial era is thus definitely past. But the world which is emerging as a result of globalization is a divided world. In this way for two centuries modernity has infiltrated countries known as traditional. Today its presence is undeniable. This influence, encouraged by the fast-moving process of globalization, has affected deeply the whole structure of formerly-traditional societies. Now, due to these unavoidable changes they have become more Western without being 'Western'. This presents a paradox: modernity is historically Western in its origins but by nature profoundly global. This brings us to the conclusion that the more modernity

This paper traces the historical discourse of Western Civilization from the period of Modernity to Postmodernity. Major political, social, moral, and scientific shifts occurred in the Western Civilization during Modernity because of the maturation of underpinning utilitarian and materialistic ethics. Postmodernity is a critique on the ideologies of modernity. The identifiable difference between the two lies in the nature of discourse. The discourse of modernity rests on the transcendent criteria such as 'progress' and 'reason'. Postmodern discourse, on the other hand, analyzes social life in terms of paradox and indeterminacy and rejects all metanarratives and overarching guiding principles, religion, science, objectivity, rationality and the notion of truth. Yet the two are closely related and complement each other by sharing a deep commitment and affinity to empiricism, concrete forms and reductionism.

I argue that Western cultures have a unique cultural profile compared to other traditional civilizations: 1. The Catholic Church and Christianity. 2. A tendency toward monogamy. 3. A tendency toward simple family structure based on the nuclear family. 4. A greater tendency for marriage to be companionate and based on mutual affection of the partners. 5. A de-emphasis on extended kinship relationships and its correlative, a relative lack of ethnocentrism. 6. A tendency toward individualism and all of its implications: individual rights against the state, representative government, moral universalism, and science

Asian Review of World Histories 1(2):316-319 , 2013