The Study of the History of Civilization: The Battle Against Monopolistically-Inclined Thinking
The "History of Civilization" is a concept which many people in academia misunderstand, thinking the study of the history of culture and technology to be the realm of specialized vested-interest historians or monopolist-like professions.
Alternatively seen, when we speak of the history of civilization, we must consider that the actual progress of mankind may have been substantially different than currently portrayed in over-creative, oft unsubstantiated documentaries on television or other media. Indeed, it is very likely that the "priests" of ancient cultures were, above all, less interested in pots and pottery, the realm of modern Archaeology, but were rather stargazers and land surveyors, comparable in their day to our astronomers and mapmakers.
As written by John Bedell at Bensozia in
Aztec Surveying:
"The two things that drove mathematical progress in ancient civilizations were land surveying and astronomy."
"Civilization" thus may encompass a broader perspective than that presented to us by current science, and we need to grant such a possibility a greater audience.
We quote Winston S. Churchill, “Civilization,” Chancellor’s Address,
University of Bristol, July 2, 1938, via Niall Ferguson in Civilization: The West
and the Rest and Michael Kaplan at The New Jacksonian Blog, citing to Winston S. Churchill, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Randolph S. Churchill, ed. (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1941), pp. 45-46:
"There are few words which are used more loosely than the word “Civilization.”
What does it mean?
It means a society based upon the opinion of civilians. It means
that violence, the rule of warriors and despotic chiefs, the conditions of
camps and warfare, of riot and tyranny, give place to parliaments where laws
are made, and independent courts of justice in which over long periods those
laws are maintained.
That is Civilization—and in its soil grow continually
freedom, comfort and culture.
When Civilization reigns, in any country, a wider
and less harassed life is afforded to the masses of the people. The traditions of the past are cherished, and the inheritance bequeathed to us by former wise or valiant men becomes a rich estate to be enjoyed and used by all.
The central principle of Civilization is the subordination of the ruling authority to the settled customs of the people and to their will as expressed through the Constitution.
In this Island [Great Britain] we have today achieved in a high degree the
blessings of Civilization. There is freedom: there is [the rule of] law; there is love of
country; there is a great measure of good will between classes: there is a widening prosperity. There are unmeasured opportunities of correcting abuses and making further progress."
Despite those wonderful words of wisdom by Winston Churchill more than 80 years ago, we today live in an allegedly "modern" era where the cardinal virtues of Civilization are greatly under siege and where we can only view the future with a certain amount of trepidation. World news is still dominated daily by conflict and strife rather than by progress and peace. Science still suffers from great and colossal failings, despite heroic efforts, as the current pandemic teaches us all.
It may of course be argued that Civilization always wins in the end and moves onward or even forward, but it is always a battle against the forces of yesteryear and against various monopolistically inclined nations, groups, religions, organizations, and schools of thought, that always have -- and today continue -- to strive to bind mankind in the chains of blindered ignorance and superstition.
It is our duty, especially the best and most capable of us, to counter the selfish voices of despots and tyrants, small and large, whether in politics or academia.
We must lead positively into the future.
That is always the pioneer spirit behind our own work.
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