Civilization
Civilization is a kind of human society or culture; a sum total of the arts, customs, habits, beliefs, values, behavior and material habits that constitute a people's way of life. Specifically, a civilization is usually understood to be a complex society characterized by the practice of agriculture, settlements, a diverse division of labour and an intricate social hierarchy. The term civilization is often used as a synonym for culture and it also refers to society as a whole. Thus the term can mean "refinement of thought, manners, or taste".
As historians have often remarked, civilization is a word easier to describe than it is to define. The word civilization comes from the Latin word civilis, meaning a "citizen" or "townsman" governed by the law of his city. Civilizations have been distinguished by their means of subsistence, types of livelihood, settlement patterns, forms of government, social stratification, economic systems, literacy, and other cultural traits.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines civilization as “the action or process of civilizing or of being civilized; a developed or advanced state of human society.”
All human civilizations have depended on agriculture for subsistence. Growing food on farms results in a surplus of food, which allows for specialized careers, division of labour and a more diverse range of human activity, a defining trait of civilizations.
Morton Fried, a conflict theorist, and Elman Service, an integration theorist, have classified human cultures based on political systems and social inequality. This system of classification contains four categories:
* Hunter-gatherer bands, which are generally egalitarian.
* Horticultural/pastoral societies in which there are generally two inherited social classes; chief and commoner.
* Highly stratified structures, or chiefdoms, with several inherited social classes: king, noble, freemen, serf and slave.
* Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments.
As historians have often remarked, civilization is a word easier to describe than it is to define. The word civilization comes from the Latin word civilis, meaning a "citizen" or "townsman" governed by the law of his city. Civilizations have been distinguished by their means of subsistence, types of livelihood, settlement patterns, forms of government, social stratification, economic systems, literacy, and other cultural traits.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines civilization as “the action or process of civilizing or of being civilized; a developed or advanced state of human society.”
All human civilizations have depended on agriculture for subsistence. Growing food on farms results in a surplus of food, which allows for specialized careers, division of labour and a more diverse range of human activity, a defining trait of civilizations.
Morton Fried, a conflict theorist, and Elman Service, an integration theorist, have classified human cultures based on political systems and social inequality. This system of classification contains four categories:
* Hunter-gatherer bands, which are generally egalitarian.
* Horticultural/pastoral societies in which there are generally two inherited social classes; chief and commoner.
* Highly stratified structures, or chiefdoms, with several inherited social classes: king, noble, freemen, serf and slave.
* Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments.
Civilization As A Broad Cultural Identity
Every society, civilization or not, has a specific set of ideas and customs, and a certain set of items and arts, that make it unique. Civilizations have intricate cultures, including literature, professional art, architecture, organized religion, and complex customs associated with the elite.
Primitive Civilizations
Nevertheless, some tribes or peoples remained ‘uncivilized’ even to this day. These cultures are called by some "primitive," a term that is regarded by others as pejorative. "Primitive" implies in some way that these people do not have hierarchical governments, organized religion, writing systems or money. The little hierarchy that exists, for example respect for the elderly, is mutual and not instituted by force, rather by a mutual reciprocal and customary agreement.
Thus, the intricate culture associated with civilization has a tendency to spread to and influence other cultures, sometimes assimilating them into the civilization (a classic example being Chinese civilization and its influence on Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and so forth), all of them sharing the fact that they belong to an East Asian civilization, sharing Confucianism, Mahayana Buddhism. Many civilizations are actually large cultural spheres containing many nations and regions.
The civilization in which someone lives is that person's broadest cultural identity. A female of African descent living in the United States has many roles that she identifies with. However, she is above all a member of "Western civilization." In the same way, a male of Kurdish ancestry living in Iran is above all a member of "Islamic civilization."
Thus, the intricate culture associated with civilization has a tendency to spread to and influence other cultures, sometimes assimilating them into the civilization (a classic example being Chinese civilization and its influence on Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and so forth), all of them sharing the fact that they belong to an East Asian civilization, sharing Confucianism, Mahayana Buddhism. Many civilizations are actually large cultural spheres containing many nations and regions.
The civilization in which someone lives is that person's broadest cultural identity. A female of African descent living in the United States has many roles that she identifies with. However, she is above all a member of "Western civilization." In the same way, a male of Kurdish ancestry living in Iran is above all a member of "Islamic civilization."
|
“Civilization is social order promoting cultural creation. Four elements constitute it: economic provision, political organization, moral traditions and the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. It begins where chaos and insecurity end. For when fear is overcome, curiosity and constructiveness are free, and man passes by natural impulse towards the understanding and embellishment of life.” |
Civilization As Internal Traits, Higher Faculties
The term has transitioned from denoting internals to expressing externals over a period of time. In its classic sense, "human" civilization may contrast sharply with conventional notions about "civilization." A "human" civilization, therein, would be an expression and extension of the two most basic pillars - connection with God and leading life on ethical and moral grounds. Everything else, whether technology, science, art, music, etc., is by this definition is considered supplementary. Indeed, to the degree the surface terrain of a human society, i.e., culture is considered "civilized," is to the degree the internal terrain (characteristics, personality or substance) of the people and leadership have evolved. The Biblically described Sodom, for instance, while being a society comprised of people with a culture, would by Jewish or Biblical standards of "civility" have been uncivilized. Ultimately, there is no true or lasting "civility" for any man in the absence of moral composure. In its vedic sense ‘human’ civilization is distinguished from ‘animal’ civilization by the development and understanding of higher faculties of life and self-realization.
|
Dr. Patel: Sir, let us first describe what is civilization. |
Civilization Is An Outcome Of Culture And Religion Of The Society
Strong cultural and religious growth play important role for a strong society, gives strong identity to one society which initiates other small societies to join or bigger population of same society who follow their ideology. Thus a strong and large society is established. So cultural and religious growth of the society in one era is civilization.
Measurement of the strength of the civilization is based on quality of life: behavior, art, ritual practices, faith, language, food habits, intelligence and economy etc.
Society’s identity is its culture and religion. Each society has its own identity but when it weakens against the strong due to deficiency, people divert or merge with strong one. At present major population of the world is trying to follow western civilization which is technologically, financially and otherwise more powerful.
Measurement of the strength of the civilization is based on quality of life: behavior, art, ritual practices, faith, language, food habits, intelligence and economy etc.
Society’s identity is its culture and religion. Each society has its own identity but when it weakens against the strong due to deficiency, people divert or merge with strong one. At present major population of the world is trying to follow western civilization which is technologically, financially and otherwise more powerful.
Education -A Technique of Transmitting Civilization
Man differs from the beast only by education, which may be defined as the technique of transmitting civilization.
Physical and biological conditions are only prerequisites to civilization; they do not constitute or generate it. Subtle psychological factors must enter into play. There must be political order. There must be some unity of language to serve as medium of mental exchange. Through church, or family, or school, or otherwise, there must be a unifying moral code, some rules of the game of life acknowledged even by those who violate them, and giving to conduct some order and regularity, some direction and stimulus. Perhaps there must also be some unity of basic belief, some faith — supernatural or utopian — that lifts morality from calculation to devotion, and gives life nobility and significance despite our mortal brevity. And finally there must be education — some technique, however primitive, for the transmission of culture. Whether through imitation, initiation or instruction, whether through father or mother, teacher or priest, the lore and heritage of the tribe — its language and knowledge, its morals and manners, its technology and arts — must be handed down to the young, as the very instrument through which they are turned from animals into men.
The disappearance of these conditions — sometimes of even one of them — may destroy a civilization. A geological cataclysm or a profound climatic change; an uncontrolled epidemic like that which wiped out half the population of the Roman Empire under the Antonines, or the Black Death that helped to end the Feudal Age; the exhaustion of the land or the ruin of agriculture through the exploitation of the country by the town, resulting in a precarious dependence upon foreign food supplies; the failure of natural resources, either of fuels or of raw materials; a change in trade routes, leaving a nation off the main line of the world’s commerce; mental or moral decay from the strains, stimuli and contacts of urban life, from the breakdown of traditional sources of social discipline and the inability to replace them; the weakening of the stock by a disorderly sexual life, or by an epicurean, pessimist, or quietist philosophy; the decay of leadership through the infertility of the able, and the relative smallness of the families that might bequeath most fully the cultural inheritance of the race; a pathological concentration of wealth, leading to class wars, disruptive revolutions, and financial exhaustion: these are some of the ways in which a civilization may die.
For civilization is not something inborn or imperishable; it must be acquired anew by every generation, and any serious interruption in its transmission may bring it to an end.
Physical and biological conditions are only prerequisites to civilization; they do not constitute or generate it. Subtle psychological factors must enter into play. There must be political order. There must be some unity of language to serve as medium of mental exchange. Through church, or family, or school, or otherwise, there must be a unifying moral code, some rules of the game of life acknowledged even by those who violate them, and giving to conduct some order and regularity, some direction and stimulus. Perhaps there must also be some unity of basic belief, some faith — supernatural or utopian — that lifts morality from calculation to devotion, and gives life nobility and significance despite our mortal brevity. And finally there must be education — some technique, however primitive, for the transmission of culture. Whether through imitation, initiation or instruction, whether through father or mother, teacher or priest, the lore and heritage of the tribe — its language and knowledge, its morals and manners, its technology and arts — must be handed down to the young, as the very instrument through which they are turned from animals into men.
The disappearance of these conditions — sometimes of even one of them — may destroy a civilization. A geological cataclysm or a profound climatic change; an uncontrolled epidemic like that which wiped out half the population of the Roman Empire under the Antonines, or the Black Death that helped to end the Feudal Age; the exhaustion of the land or the ruin of agriculture through the exploitation of the country by the town, resulting in a precarious dependence upon foreign food supplies; the failure of natural resources, either of fuels or of raw materials; a change in trade routes, leaving a nation off the main line of the world’s commerce; mental or moral decay from the strains, stimuli and contacts of urban life, from the breakdown of traditional sources of social discipline and the inability to replace them; the weakening of the stock by a disorderly sexual life, or by an epicurean, pessimist, or quietist philosophy; the decay of leadership through the infertility of the able, and the relative smallness of the families that might bequeath most fully the cultural inheritance of the race; a pathological concentration of wealth, leading to class wars, disruptive revolutions, and financial exhaustion: these are some of the ways in which a civilization may die.
For civilization is not something inborn or imperishable; it must be acquired anew by every generation, and any serious interruption in its transmission may bring it to an end.
|
What is civilization? Civilization... The Aryans are called civilized. Why? Aryan means going forward. And what is the destination of going forward? The destination is to understand the original cause of creation, God. Janmady asya yatah. |
Civilizational Interaction
There have existed many types of relations between civilizations, including economic relations, cultural exchanges, and political/diplomatic/military relations. These spheres often occur on different scales. For example, trade networks were, until the nineteenth century, much larger than either cultural spheres or political spheres. Extensive trade routes, including the Silk Road through Central Asia and Indian Ocean sea routes linking the Roman Empire, Persian Empire, India, and China, were well established 2000 years ago, when these civilizations scarcely shared any political, diplomatic, military, or cultural relations.
Many theorists argue that the entire world has now become integrated into a single "world system", a process known as globalization. Different civilizations and societies all over the globe are economically, politically, and even culturally interdependent in many ways.
Civilizations have shown an inclination towards conquest and expansion and they experience cycles of birth, life, decline and From a Vedic perspective, the globalization is not a new phenomenon. Five thousand years ago, as proclaimed by vedic history, the world was ruled by the emperors based in Indraprastha, modern Delhi, and vedic culture was prevalent far and wide.
Many theorists argue that the entire world has now become integrated into a single "world system", a process known as globalization. Different civilizations and societies all over the globe are economically, politically, and even culturally interdependent in many ways.
Civilizations have shown an inclination towards conquest and expansion and they experience cycles of birth, life, decline and From a Vedic perspective, the globalization is not a new phenomenon. Five thousand years ago, as proclaimed by vedic history, the world was ruled by the emperors based in Indraprastha, modern Delhi, and vedic culture was prevalent far and wide.
|
If you want to know what is civilization, you have to learn here: dhiranam, gentle. In the Bhagavata the description is there. So Vedic civilization is meant for the most gentle, highly advanced, not for the cats and dogs. |
