According to dictionary.com, "civilization" is an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached.
To me, this definition seems a bit grandiose or possibly pretentious.
The definition says, "high level of culture, science, industry, and government" but what of those societies with moderate or low levels of these characteristics? Are they to be placed in the same category as savage and uncivilized populations?
Personally, I think having a moderate or low level of culture, science, industry, and government are incredible feats and should be granted the name of civilized, especially if a society has all of these characteristics.
You may speculate that my standards for a civilization are rather low, but if we go off the definition given to us by dictionary.com, and perhaps other dictionary sources, then we have inadvertently labeled more than half of human societies in the world as savage or barbaric. Which I find a rather ostentatious display of self importance.
A civilization should be any human society that displays any level of culture, science, industry, and government.
"You may speculate that my standards for a civilization are rather low, but if we go off the definition given to us by dictionary.com, and perhaps other dictionary sources, then we have inadvertently labeled more than half of human societies in the world as savage or barbaric. Which I find a rather ostentatious display of self importance. "
ReplyDeleteI TOTALLY agree!
I agree with your definition and like that it applies to a broader group of societies. It is interesting to look at the dictionary definitions and notice that like you said only half of the worlds societies would qualify under their definitions.
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