Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Club for Open-Minded Discussion & Debate

[Burning ghost]

Ignored? It has certainly been broken up into different facets, but hardly "ignored."

Politics is essentially about how to govern and run a stable civilization. What is deemed "civil" is not directly associated with "civilization." I would say the modern term is more or less surrounded by the idea of more concrete structures rather than merely abstract ones (this would be why writing is most commonly associated with more 'advanced' civilizations.)

https://www.etymonline.com/word/civilization

In archeology we generally tend to refer to "civilization" as being social cooperation on a large scale that involves a movement away from hunter gather life styles in order to free up human time and create societal structures.

What is generally deemed as the most apparent culmination of civilization is a the invention of writing and the formation of "written" law.

Spengler's view of the interaction between his terms of "culture" and "civilization" I find to be useful.

[growthhormone]

Ignored? It has certainly been broken up into different facets, but hardly "ignored."

Politics is essentially about how to govern and run a stable civilization. What is deemed "civil" is not directly associated with "civilization." I would say the modern term is more or less surrounded by the idea of more concrete structures rather than merely abstract ones (this would be why writing is most commonly associated with more 'advanced' civilizations.)

https://www.etymonline.com/word/civilization

In archeology we generally tend to refer to "civilization" as being social cooperation on a large scale that involves a movement away from hunter gather life styles in order to free up human time and create societal structures.

What is generally deemed as the most apparent culmination of civilization is a the invention of writing and the formation of "written" law.

Spengler's view of the interaction between his terms of "culture" and "civilization" I find to be useful.

"Ignored? It has certainly been broken up into different facets, but hardly "ignored.""

Have you ever come across a question" what is the nature of civilisation"?

[Burning ghost]

Have you ever come across the question "What is the nature if difference?"

It is a blanket term which has been cut up into pieces like law, habitation, economic management and religion. The "fertile crescent" is usually referred to as the "cradle of civilization." Basically when large groups of humans settled, farmed and started to build lasting institution (concrete and conceptually integrated) then that is called "civilization."

I wouldn't get to confused about asking about the precise point in time this emerged any more than I would ask about the precise point where "difference" arose. Which is a very common question in anthropology when in comes to the infamous "rise of inequality."

[Atreyu]

My view is that modern man is basically uncivilized, but he has a thin veneer of civilization remaining.

Basically, modern man are the descendants of a civilized people, who established all the basic parameters of our civilization. And modern man has sort of been 'going through the motions' of being civilized ever since.

We are the pretenders of civilization, and our ancestors were the practitioners of it. However, this is hard to see in anthropology, because the evidence cannot differentiate between the practice of civilization and the mechanical imitation of it, and this is even true for many people when assessing the current situation.

For example, a man can not use violence to control his wife and children because he knows better, or simply because he's afraid of the consequences and doesn't want to go to jail.

Our "civilization" is maintained with missiles and guns and threats and punishments, prisons and police and lofty words, and, most importantly, with lies. Real civilization is maintained by conscious men who voluntarily choose to live a truthful life. Not by unconscious men who have to pretend because they don't want to suffer the consequences...

[Burning ghost]

Atreyu -

Our civilization is also the most technologically advanced and has produced widespread economic wealth and distribution, reduced the spread of war, disease, increased education, and cut child mortality rates.

Of course you could also argue some of these things are a problem. Perhaps we've done too well! That in itself could be our downfall; too fast too quickly. I don't think so though.

[Sy Borg]

I agree, BG. There is still a long way to go but I am personally most impressed by humanity, what it's achieved, and how peaceable, gentle and reasonable many people have become. Far from perfect, but extraordinary. Some will naturally be less civilised than others. In fact, the middle class pays soldiers, police, construction workers, forestry workers, and so forth to do rough and hard activities so that the majority may lead more genteel lives than would otherwise be possible.