...Civilization Civilization is a hard word to explain, in one word or in a sentence, because it depends on how the society is built and there are many different aspects. Civilization comes from the word civis, which comes from Latin, and means citizen of a city. When you take a look in the mirror, have you ever thought about that you belong to a certain identical group and that your language or culture even could be some of your personality behaviors are a sign of the particular civilization? What is civilization? And how is Civilization defined? According to the dictionary “Civilization” means a society, its culture and way of living life. The definition of civilization refers to a society or it can be group of people or the process of achieving a higher state of social development. When we look at R.Cobb´s drawing about civilization, we see these two mason where some people are blocked inside them both, those peoples are exactly the same but they have created too parts of different civilization and one of the group consider the other group to be “mentally ill” and reverse. A example could be the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has been going on for 65 years. The new born state took its place back in May 1948. They got mandates for Britain, to occupate the county of the Palestinians. They performed ethnic cleansing, which resulted in millions of refugees of Palestinians in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Then they came up with the apartheid politics, which resulted in a wall...
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...Civilization – A Definition What do ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform writing tablets, Egyptian pyramids of Giza, inscribed oracle bones from ancient Chinese divine rituals, and automobiles have in common? Each of these objects represents a bi-product of an ancient or modern civilization. However, many anthropologists, historians, theorists and sociologists alike disagree with regard to how the term civilization should be defined. According to sociologist Robert Park, “Civilization […] is the result of man’s effort to use the resources of his environment in order to change nature and, where possible, make it less raw, more comfortable and less difficult to endure” (Park, 132). He reasons that civilization should be measured by man’s degree of conquest over nature (133). Historian and author Felipe Fernández-Armesto describes civilization as both a “process of collective self-differentiation from a world characterized […] as barbaric or savage or primitive” and a stage reached when a particular society reaches its “climax” (Fernández-Armesto, 13). While peace activist Scott Nearing believed civilization to be the “most comprehensive, extensive and inclusive life pattern achieved by terrestrial humanity,” the philosopher and revolutionary Karl Marx believed that the beginning of civilization symbolized the beginning of oppression (Nearing, 54). In the simplest sense, the Oxford English Dictionary defines the verb “to civilize” as “to bring out of a state of barbarism, to instruct...
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...* Civilization Essay * Civilization is the product of the inner human consciousness that projects itself collectively within society. These projections are what we interact with everyday within our own society. These projections are based on the natural interpretation of their respective civilization or culture and the basic walks of life that consume it. For example the existence of laws, arts, religion, and government are the meat and potatoes of civilization without these essential elements humans would be reduced animals that eat to live and breed without leaving a mark or legacy of his own. The fact that humans even want to leave legacy is interweaved into building blocks of civilization. As defined by dictionary.com civilization is an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached. (Dictonary.com) Are humans defined by their civilizations acceptance of their cultural ideologies? How do these ideologies play out in society and what role do these ideologies play in civilization? * The answer is the humanities rule our existence. Humanities because it is the outward expression of our selves our ideas and culture. Humanities capture the human spirit, soul, and inner thoughts and express them in three different ways through visual art, performing art, and literary art. These arts impress upon our society to shape our ideas of the world around us, and how we fit into the grand scheme of civilization...
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...The stage of human social development and organization that is considered most advanced. Civilization is a term used in many different ways. It can be defined as; people who eat the same kind of foods, People who live together, people who speak the same language, and so on. Yet each way that it is defined relates towards the same topic; Humans and their existence on the planet. Civilization is known greatly as a group of humans or animals that live generally together and practice the same habits. Civilization, according to some historians, first came into play in the year 3000 BCE. These historians look at civilization as people who have the same dietary needs and habits, which practice these habits regularly in order to survive. A couple of years before 3000 BCE, the world went through what historians call the Agricultural revolution. They feel that because of this revolution, groups of people started to come together to practice their farming ways. Because of all the new food supplies that came about through the agricultural revolution, the population started to grow into little villages, which eventually turned into city states. This caused people to look further beyond their little villages in search of more land to hold their growing populations. This caused groups of people to break off and form their own little towns or civilizations. After a while the people learned that by being in different places their farming encountered different weather and growing conditions. The...
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...The definition of a civilization according to Huntington is a cultural entity. It is the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species. It is defined by common elements such as: language, history, religion, customs, institutions and the self identification of people. Civilizations may include a large number of people or a very small number of people. They may include several Nation States or only one. They can blend or overlap and even include sub civilizations. Huntington's definition of a civilization matches up well with what we have learned in class. Civilization's are complex and civilizations are dynamic. They rise and fall, and divide and merge. They have many characteristics which include: urban revolution, distinct religious culture, new political and military structures such as bureaucracy, new social structures based on political power, the development of writing and the development of war complexity in material sense. Huntington divided the world into seven other civilizations, Western, Latin American, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu and Slavic-Orthodox. He said that Africa was only a possible civilization. Huntington said that “people's religious and cultural identities will be the main source of conflict in the post- cold war world” and there will be conflict between Western Civilizations and Islamic Civilizations because of seven main reasons...
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...Joanne Jones Professor Jacqueline Ortoleva HUMN-302 August 31, 2011 Early Civilization The history of early civilization can be seen throughout our society in many ways, even today. From inventions such as the cotton gin and the printing press to the start of industrialization. These inventions can be associated with music, fashion, graphic design, and interior design. This is the history of early civilization that continues to impact and play a major role throughout our society today. This assignment relates to my major Audio Production in a few different ways. For example, the pressing of album art and compact discs would not be possible if it were not for the Paleolithic people painting and drawing on walls in caves. In turn this lead to other forms of expressions such as, written word and period art pieces. Also, musical influences from earlier civilizations, cultures, and regions can still be found throughout all music genres today. It has been stated that there has been a discovery of handmade instruments in caves that could be traced back to the pre-historic time period (Whipps). In closing, there are many things that can be seen within our society today that has been influenced by earlier civilizations. From our music to art and the ways in which we communicate, these influences can be seen everywhere. Without these influences the world, as we know it, may not exist. Works Cited Whipps, Heather. "Turns Out, Cavemen Loved to Sing." Msnbc.com. Msnbc.com...
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... Definition of Civilization When people in the community live peacefully, the level of development increases tremendously thereby civilization sets in. Before civilization came into existence, the early people lived off the land and were nomadic hunter-gatherers. With time, these hunters and groups of foragers started to settle down. There were strains on the nomadic people in that they had to find reliable sources of food for the animals that were large to feed. The exact meaning of “civilization” sometimes becomes hard to define since it can be ambiguous. It is easier for civilization to be described than it can be defined. According to Mazlish (5), civilization can be defined in many ways, but many scholars agree that when a society forms cities the result is that it becomes a civilization. Scholars define civilization as a set of attributes that certain societies possess, for example, agriculture, writing, monumental construction, government, mathematics among others. Emphasis is employed in the definition of civilization in terms of describing societies as being urbanized and hierarchical. Civilization is traced back to the Latin word “civilis” that has the meaning of “citizen” that means a member in a state that has a government or any sort of ruling in place. Civilization takes many forms that may include division of labor, surplus of food, and organization of governments and religion. Many people should be cognizant, and understand that civilization is regarded as...
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...Topics in Cultural Studies What forces contributed to the cultural makeup of early civilizations? There are several things that contributed to the cultural makeup of early civilizations. Some of the forces were geographical location, religion, the diet of the culture, and the availability of natural resources. Geography contributed because it was a determining factor in what the culture would do such as farming or hunting. Religion contributed to how the culture lived and the location helped to determine the religion, they would have a sun goddess or a rain goddess depending on the location. The diet of the culture was affected be whether they were hunters or farmers and the available animals and resources. What social issues arose because of this cultural makeup? As cultures developed at different paces their level of intelligence evolved as well. The separation would then lead to cultures that had different beliefs and values and the fact that they had different opinions could cause problems between the different cultures. What were the main cultural influences on early civilizations? The need for food, clothing and housing were some of the main cultural influences on early civilization. The housing, food and clothes that they had depended on geography and their access to natural resources. Depending on where they were located they would grow crops or they might hunt. The food they could hunt or grow depended on the climate. From your perspective what are the pros...
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...The Development of Civilization Prepared for Mr. Bsharah By Chris Treadwell History B1 Spring 2013 Civilization is defined as; an advanced state of cultural and material development in human society, marked by political and social complexity and progress in the arts and sciences. This wasn’t achieved easily, nor was it an ever-progressing movement. More so it was the product of several trial and error advancements in various fields of human endeavor. The starting point for all this advancement is known as the Neolithic Revolution, also referred to as the agricultural revolution. This was the shift from a nomadic hunter-gatherer culture to a more settled agricultural lifestyle. The domestication of plants and animals was a major turning point in mankind’s evolution, but it took more than a millennia to transform from nomads to agrarians. Archeological data indicates that several different forms of plant and animal domestication evolved in separate locations worldwide. “The earliest Neolithic societies appeared in the Middle East about 8000 B.C.E., in China about 4000 B.C.E., and in India about 3600 B.C.E.” The first farming was largely grain based in fertile river-valleys with adequate climate and natural resources to sustain farming. Over time man began developing the where-with-all to change his surrounding environment to suit his needs even further. Certain crops were grown in areas according to availability geographically and ease of production rather than chosen...
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...Rivers were an essential part to the growth of any civilization, because humans need food, water, and shelter to survive. All early civilizations settled near rivers or bodies of water and built out from there. The water from the rivers provided nourishment to the plants. The plants then provided them with shelter for the settlers. The settlers used the rivers water for drinking, preparing food, bathing themselves and provided water for their crops. The washing of their food and body helped keep diseases down and produced more work output. Doing more work meant digging irrigations systems from the rivers to the crops. Either by irrigation or by carrying buckets, the water was needed for crops. The running water also attracted animals that the early people hunted. The rivers were used as trading routes, made it easier to transport people or supplies. Living at the river sides require strict organization – apart from building irrigation systems, people had to learn how to prevent the water from flooding their homes by building dikes. Settling in at the river sides made it possible to establish the most known civilizations, like Egypt (river Nile ) or Mesopotamia ( Tigris – Euphrates) . 1. Describe carefully three ways in which Neolithic society differed from Paleolithic society. * People of the Paleolithic era lead a nomadic way of life. They were moving in small groups, rarely communicating with others. They moved from place to place mainly in order to find...
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...Ancient Civilizations The first civilizations in history were developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hurrapan and China some 5,000 years ago. All receive the name of river civilizations because they were developed on the banks of major rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates in Mesopotamia; the Nile in Egypt; the Indus in the Hurrapan civilization; and the Yellow River in China. The banks of these rivers were occupied lands very fertile and easy to water, causing a great development of agriculture. The economic growth produced major changes; the population increased and the small villages grew into large cities with many thousands of inhabitants. A civilization is a complex culture in which a large number of people share several common elements. Historians have identified some basic features of the civilization, most of which is obvious in the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Hurrapan, China and Egypt. These include: (1) Urban revolution; the cities become the principal points of the political, financial, social, cultural and religious development. (2) Religious structure characteristic; the gods are considered crucial to the success of the community, and professional religious classes; as administrators of the property of the gods and they regulate relations with the gods. (3) New political structures and military; arises an organized government bureaucracy to meet the administrative demands of the growing population, while armies are organized to acquire domains and power. (4) A...
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...Clash of Civilizations In 1993 Samuel Huntington wrote an article titled “Is there a clash of civilizations”. The thesis was very much born in the context of the end of the cold war. The idea of “clash of civilizations” suggests that twenty-first century global order will be characterized by growing tension and conflict between rival cultures or civilizations, as opposed to the political, ideological or economic conflict of old. Huntington furthermore argued that the world was split into 9 different civilizational orders, and the West would clash with all of them, but in particular it would clash with the Islamic world, Japan and Russia. The realists have given little attention to the issue of identity or cultural politics. They focus on the behavior of states. However the liberals have recognized this thesis to some extent. Huntington’s view that the West would clash with the Islamic world was vindicated after the September 11th terrorist attacks, neoconservatives looking for a response distanced themselves from Huntington’s rhetoric. Neoconservative George W Bush was keen to emphasize that not all Muslims were to blame for 9/11, and indeed it was just a tiny minority of extremists holding the Islamic world back. Whereas Huntington had argued that the Islamic world was hostile to western ideas of liberal democracy, George W Bush ignored this insight and fought two wars to try and bring democracy to the Middle East, ignoring Huntington’s claim that there would be a backlash...
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...Mid-Term Examination The Clash of Civilizations and Its International Implications By: Meidina Felita Alifandra 016201400183 IRE 2014 Diplomacy 2 Semester 7 I. Introduction As being stated by Samuel P. Huntington, the Clash of Civilization is a hypothesis in which the primary sources of conflicts in the post-cold war era are more dominant to the people’s cultural and religious identities. Civilization has three attributes which are the objective elements – language, history religion, customs, and institution; the subjective elements – variable levels of self-identification; and civilization itself is dynamic – they rise and fall, divide and merge. II. The Relation between the “Kin-Country” Theory by Samuel P. Huntington and The U.S. Attitudes Towards the Palestinian-Israeli Issues. Samuel P. Huntington also stated a theory about civilization rallying – or well-known as “Kin-Country Syndrome”. In his “Kin-Country...
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...It is not fortuitous that the first civilizations developed around rivers. These bodies of water helped cradle these early societies, very few of which still prosper today. Many have been transformed and annexed by another civilization or demolished in a calamity. Yet some have only faced minor continuities and changes throughout their existence. One of those lasting societies is the civilizations of China. The first civilization of China sprouted along the Huang He (Yellow) River. These small Neolithic societies were able to settle and create a stable community because of the static water source. When nomadic groups settle down and begin to produce food instead of looking for it, people are able to accept roles and can focus on building and expanding their community. This is their Neolithic Revolution which is a major stepping stone that starts the beginning of Chinese culture. In the estimated time of 6,000-7000 B.C.E, societies around the Yangtze River in the south began to cultivate rice and wheat and millet were being grown in the north. To make agriculture more efficient, these societies began to alter their land. The societies in the north cleared forests and built dams. The south also cleared land to plant rice and began to flatten uneven land to fit their needs. These changes show how the civilizations were advancing by attempting to change the very land the walk upon. Around 2000 B.C.E, the Chinese began to use bronze which they were able create various items from...
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...inspired by the ancient river valley civilizations. Although they ancient civilizations did not inspire like the iphone or ipad. They inspired a lot of better things such as, the sailboat and even mail( OI ). This was around 3500 B.C.Two contributions from the mesopotamian civilization were the invention of cuneiform and hammurabi’s code. To begin, the ancient Sumerians invented cuneiform, which paved the way for written language in the future (OI). Cuneiform was the very first written language, invented over 5000 years ago (Doc. 1). Cuneiform could only be written by scribes in the ziggurat (OI).Sumerians used cuneiform for keeping track of business dealings, keeping records and more (Doc. 1). From all of these new ideas they were able to be passed from generation to generation (Doc. 1). After the scribes wrote on the clay tablets they were then baked in a kiln...
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