a history of civilizations by fernand braudel

Students following Braudel's book would study the emergence and development of about a dozen civilisations: Islam, Africa, the Far East, China, India, Japan, Korea, Europe, Russia and America North and South, and in the process learn to distrust the facile explanations of geography (in the case of Africa, for instance), the dogmas of economy (China and Russia), the lures of science and the arts (Europe), and, above all, to be wary of attributing praise and blame. Furthermore, Braudel insists, civilisations require societies to support them civilisations can always be located on a map.

Temporaries whose lives were as short and as short-sighted as ours.' A History of Civilizations, therefore, will not dwell on immediacy.Ĭivilisations, Braudel tells us, define themselves not only through what they produce but also through what they reject, a sort of definition by omission, as when the Christian East, before the fall of Constantinople, rejected Rome and looked towards the invading forces from Asia.

But, pace ethnologists, can there be one without the other? The dichotomy rings false: in Germany, Poland and Russia, 'culture' (meaning, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, 'the refined understanding of the arts and other intellectual achievements') takes social precedence, while in France, Britain and the United States, 'civilisation' (which the OED defines as 'an advanced stage or system of social development') is more highly prized. According to ethnologists, who have taken to heart Pope's dictum about the proper study of mankind, certain societies are 'civilised', that is to say, materially advanced, while others are merely 'cultured'. The word 'civilisation', denoting the process by which this quality is achieved, is an 18th- century neologism penned by the French economist Turgot.

Implied in this flippancy is the notion that what we call civilisation is less the majestic architecture of skyscrapers and cathedrals, the displays of air squadrons and marching bands, the louder-than- thou pronouncements of the daily press, than some essential human quality Gandhi found lacking in the West.

When Gandhi was asked for his opinion on Western civilisation, his answer was that 'it would be a good idea'. AT FIRST glance, the problem of civilisation seems to be one of vocabulary.

A history of civilizations by fernand braudel