Western Civilisation

It is said that when Mahatma Gandhi was asked what he thought of western civilisation, his response was that he thought it might be a good idea. This is more likely a story than an actual event – however, an important point is being made.

To be clear: western civilisation has undoubtedly bought many benefits to many people and has had many positive consequences. Critiquing western civilisation does not mean that other civilisations are better (or worse). Neither all is bad nor all is good; not highly partisan criticism or ill-advised adoration – rather aspiring towards a more balanced consideration of current circumstances.

To begin at the beginning (and bearing in mind this is a very brief look at a very large subject). The description ‘Western civilisation’ can be highly disputed. What or where is ‘Western’? What is ‘civilisation’? When did it emerge? What are its primary characteristics? Perhaps this is simply about the domination of certain groups (what might possibly be called ‘ethnic supremacy’). Perhaps this is about the principal values of Western Europe and North America (plus other countries like Australia). Perhaps in the last few centuries, it might be about importance of the individual. Perhaps it is about all these things (and more).

Views differ between Western Europeans and North Americans (just as one example). A view is that western civilisation dates from ancient Greece and then the Roman Empire (more than 2000 years ago). Other views are that it dates from early Christianity or from the start of Western European colonial empires (15th century CE). Some could prefer to use words such as ‘culture’ or ‘empire’ or ‘values’ rather than civilisation. Having flagged up these potential options and acknowledged that this is a challenging narrative, the term ‘western civilisation’ is offered here as a useful umbrella to describe certain approaches, influences, social structures.

Western civilisation has definitely had a massive impact on this world. It has been the cradle – to varying extents – of democracy, capitalism, individualism; and also of communism, socialism, anarchism. Through western civilisation, some people have found freedoms and have experienced social and economic liberties. This cradle and umbrella have created innumerable beauties: the music of Johann Bach, the paintings of William Turner, the cathedrals of Christianity, the writings of Mark Twain, the inventions of Marie Curie.

 

One aspect of western civilisation was the 18th-century Enlightenment. This was a philosophical movement that aspired to uphold reason and pursue knowledge, to promote individual liberty and encourage religious tolerance. This movement also had less positive outcomes such as man to dominate earth, might was right, nature was dangerous (or else she needed protection), the end justified the means. Natural resources looted without consideration of environmental impacts. Science and logic prioritised over spirituality and mysticism, everything knowable, mysteries denied.

The Enlightenment upheld new scientific worlds and there was a sweeping away to make room for glorious truths revealed by this science. While there were certainly many pluses such as freedom of expression, great scientific advances and social equality, there were also substantial flaws – such as the separating of mind from body and the separating of human being from natural world. Like so much, different parts that could be constructive and harmful, beneficial and damaging, useful and detrimental.

The Enlightenment encouraged a view of the human body that it was more like a machine than a complex connecting web of emotions and energies; more distinct compartments than a unifying holism. This focusing on self as independent pieces and isolated entities meant that the body was more perceived as a device that required regular upkeep. Things rather than processes. A primary pillar of western civilisation is these perspectives of separation and superiority rather than the practice of inclusivity.

Western civilisation has been the source of misery for millions, with significantly negative impacts on the world. The pillaging of land and sea (from forests to fishes), the impact on air and its ramifications for all breathing beings, the short termism which causes environmental degradation and ecological catastrophes (from fossil fuels to agribusiness farming): these all have major repercussions. Western civilisation presents specific appearances that on closer examination can sometimes be revealed to be at best shallow and at worst deeply fraudulent.

There are those who uphold western civilisation while at the same time justifying – as one example – what happened in the Gaza in 2023–24: the slaughter of thousands of children and civilians, the assassination of journalists, the virtual demolishing of cities. There are those who uphold western civilisation while ignoring famine as a deliberate policy (Ireland 1845–52), the state murder of radicals like Fred Hampton (Chicago in 1969), mass killings of those who opposed the authorities (Chile 1973-80). Just a few examples amongst countless realities. Not the attractive packaging, not the advertising jingles, not the alluring slogans – more some actual consequences of western civilisation.

 

One view is that western civilisation’s primary motive is greed – impacts of this motivation include imperialism, racism, materialism. Western civilisation makes claims about its fairness while imposing deeply damaging policies – genocide of indigenous populations (from Australia to America), savage violence inflicted on Africa by European nations (from slavery to looting). Of course such motivations and claims are also true of other civilisations.

The history of western imperialism – involving countries such as the UK, Belgium, Germany, France, the US – is ransacking and theft on a vast scale; a destroying of existing economies and lives. Whether this was in India, Congo, Namibia, Algeria, Vietnam – similar situations of the colonial power substantially damaging the colonised country. In 1948 Gandhi wrote: “In spite of my love of the British people, I think their imperialism has been their greatest crime against humanity.”

Mountains of corpses might be said to be a more accurate representation of western civilisation than the Sistine Chapel, Wolfgang Mozart, the Statue of Liberty, Pablo Picasso. At times, the 19th century British Empire was more like a violent narco-state than its claims of bringing social progress to so-called ‘backward’ countries. And from recent evidence, it is very clear that western civilisation cares more about shipping lanes and cargo movement than human lives. While these realities happen, critical thinking is drowned out by celebrity gossip and cat videos, by propaganda cultivating popular consent for wars that have in the first three decades of this century killed millions of people and wreaked great destruction.

As stated earlier, a critical assessment of western civilisation does not mean that other civilisations are better (or worse). It means opening eyes to what is really going on, refusing to be blinded by the blizzards of consumer goods, the spectacles of mass amusements, the manufactured distractions: clear seeing, ability to perceive other possibilities, knowing what is behind the facades.

It means seeing that maybe western civilisation might be like the violent abuser that batters those who question their behaviour, who gaslights and isolates their partner – the narcissist who avoids taking responsibility for their actions by shifting blame onto the victim: “you made me do this”. Significant elements of western civilisation in recent centuries have been like an out of control teenager: dismissive of limits, thrilled by new things, seduced by a sense of being immortal, highly self-interested, deeply irresponsible.

A strand of western civilisation’s propagandising is that people in the past had a limited understanding of the world and much harder lives. However, there are errors in these dogmas. One example: as early as 6th century BCE it was believed that the earth was a sphere (Pythagoras; then Aristotle and Euclid). In Ptolemy’s Geography (2nd century CE), it is taken for granted that the earth is spherical in shape. The idea that people in the Middle Ages believed that the earth was flat is much more an invention from the 17th and 18th centuries than actual reality. And the idea that nearly everyone before the 19th century had to work very hard in very difficult conditions is debatable.

 

Western civilisation certainly has a variety of forms: more social democracy in Sweden, more individualism in the USA. Yet it is true that in much of western civilisation, we are less citizens and more consumers, clients, commodities. Many of us so busy trying to manage lives as customers within capitalism that there is simply a lack of time to see other possibilities. For too many people, western civilisation exhausts and depletes, far too many people being literally choked by the demands, the fences, the difficulties.

Western civilisation’s democracies are dominated by elites who choose the range of alternatives – what can be called ‘liberal democracy’ is in reality more an oligarchy (“a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes”). A vision is required that goes beyond this hubris of ‘western civilisation’ and all its compartmentalising. Philosopher Kwame Appiah wrote: “We live with seven billion fellow humans on a small, warming planet. The cosmopolitan impulse that draws on our common humanity is no longer a luxury; it has become a necessity.”

Contrary to much of western civilisation ideology, the fact is that we are neither isolated individuals in separate boxes nor autonomous reasoning machines who are invincible. Rather, we are fluid processes swimming together in social and environmental seas, we are creatures being shaped by innumerable patterns, our wellness being sustained by dynamic relationships. Not closed containers, more open systems; not solitary things, more beings within relational fields where everything connects to everything. This astonishing world we call home (with all its mountains, its valleys, its oceans) and human consciousness (with all its imaginations, its joys, its poetry) is so much more than the separating into things, the aridity of objective reasoning, the domineering of self-proclaimed superiority.

Terence the African was a playwright in 2nd BCE Rome. He was enslaved, then freed; his writings were an influence on Renaissance dramas and playwrights such as William Shakespeare. He said: “I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me.” More than 2000 years later, Martin Luther King wrote: “If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class and our nation; and this means that we must develop a world perspective…We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

Less a surviving alone or survival of the fittest, rather a thriving together.

Now these could be good steps.