Western thought: Encyclopedia - Western thought

Western thought

The term Western thought is usually associated with the cultural tradition that traces its origins to Greek thought and Jewish and Christian religion (See also Western culture).

Cornerstones in this tradition are arguably:

• deductive reasoning,
• rule of law and
• monotheism.

Western society may be thought of as following an evolution that began with the philosophers of Athens such as Solon and Socrates. It continued through the Roman Empire and, with the addition of Christianity (which had its origins in the East), spread throughout Europe. During the colonial era, it became implanted in the Americas and in Australasia.

In the early 5th century, the Emperor Constantine the Great established the city of Constantinople as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Eastern Empire included lands east of the Adriatic Sea and bordering on the Eastern Mediterranean and parts of the Black Sea. These two divisions of the Eastern and Western Empires were reflected in the administration of the Christian Church, with Rome and Constantinople debating and arguing over whether either city was the capital of Christianity (see Great Schism). As the eastern and western churches spread their influence, the line between "East" and "West" can be described as moving, but generally followed a cultural divide that was defined by the existence of the Byzantine empire and the fluctuating power and influence of the church in Rome. This cultural division was and is long lasting; it still existed during the Cold War as the approximate western boundary of those countries that were allied with the Soviet Union.

There are ideals that some associate with the West, and there are many who consider Western values to be universally superior. For example, the author Francis Fukuyama argues that Western values are destined to triumph over the entire world.

However, there are many who question the meaning of the notion of Western values and point out that societies such as Japan and the United States are very different. Furthermore, they point out that advocates of Western values are selective in what they include as Western; for example, they usually include concepts of freedom, democracy, and human rights, but not totalitarianism, which was first created in the West, or slavery, which reached massive levels in the West, and whose history in the West goes back millennia. Therefore by selecting what values are part of "Western values", one can tautologically show that they are superior, since any inferior values by definition are not Western. See also: No true Scotsman fallacy

A different attack on the concept of Western values comes from those who advocate Islamic values or Asian values. In this view, there are a coherent set of traits that define the West, but those traits are inferior and are usually associated with moral decline, greed, and decadence. Those who hold this view are concerned about the Westernization of the rest of the world.

Since the countries in the "West" were generally those that explored and colonized outside of Europe, the term Western became, to some people, associated with European colonialism. However, many others have established colonial rules, so it is not uniquely a Western phenomenon.

Historically, one of the most interesting questions is how did the societies associated with "the West" come to dominate the world between 1750 and 1950.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Western thought", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki