Civilization

Common definitions and uses of the term civilization:

1. Civilization: The term is used to describe the culture or history of a society with an
advanced stage of development (having high standard legal system, economic and
social structure).
2. Civilization is a term that refers to excellence in ideas, manners and tastes of a
community or nation (Example: Romans had different levels of social habits
depending on social class structure, but they acted according to a common code of
respectable behaviour)
3. The term civilization is used with the meaning of education and science and progress.
For example: In the Middle Ages, Arabs brought civilization to the world, in Asia,
Africa and Europe.

LECTURE:
Civilization can be defined as the opposite of backwardness and savagery or
barbarism. In other words, Civilization is an advanced stage of a human society, where
people live with a reasonable degree of organization and comfort and can think about things
like art and education. Therefore, civilization is the opposite of barbarism and chaos.

There are many civilizations as (since) human groups or nations created different
societies with varied levels of development. Also, civilizations live and die! The earliest
civilization seems to have emerged in Mesopotamia (Iraq) because man discovered writing
there for the first time. It is called the cuneiform calligraphy and it was dated back to 3.500
BC. It was thanks to Mesopotamian tales notably ‘The Gilgamesh tablets’ that people
learned about the story of Noah’s Deluge. Some historians rather claim that civilization
began in China thousands of years before Christ because there are archeological indications
that China had built roads, water canals and governing dynastic systems about five thousand
years ago. Egyptian pyramids which date back to 3000 BC also point out the precedence of
Egyptian civilization as an early civilization. The American Indians too build their own
civilizations thousands of years ago and reached different stages of development from one
region to another along the American continent. The Maya nation and the Aztecs in Central
America for example were more advanced than their neighbors in the north, in what is
known today as the United States of America. There is also the Islamic Civilization. In this
case we mean that the revelation of Quran aimed to erase atheism and idolatry for the
purpose of imposing the unity of the one creator of humanity: the Almighty Allah. These
various descriptions of the term civilization show that there is no agreed definition among
scientists. The meaning keeps evolving with time, place and society. Today, the word
civilization includes not only culture, history and cities but also technological inventions and
modern fashions from decent behaviour to immoral ways of life; across the planet. END
Reading list:
This is a suggested booklist to help you widen your understanding of the topic. These
famous writers provide different views on the topic.

Ibn Khaldūn: Muqaddimah (‫ الـمـقـدمـة‬/ Prolegomenon)

Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Arnold J. Toynbee : A Study of History

Samuel Huntington : Clash of civilizations.

Course activity
-Read the passage and look up any difficult vocabulary to get the meaning.

-Summarize the passage (in English). Apply all the writing rules.

-Keep your homework in a file so as to develop a portfolio with future activities.