Western civilization is the emphasis on individual achievement of the material civilization, Chinese civilization and Western civilization is the most different, this is the first in the West feel. Many of the ancient non-Western civilizations, such as Egypt, India, Persia, and China are not the same as they are from the ancient times, Western civilization and blend together. For example, is the four ancient civilizations of Egypt, but Egypt is not only to the West in modern times occurred in the relationship. Egypt has a very well-known in the history of Queen Cleopatra, she and her entire family ruled both Egypt 300 years, but the Greeks are simply not going to say if Egypt. As a result, from ancient Egypt and the West have been entangled, because it is the birthplace of Western civilization in the Mediterranean area, Egypt, Africa and Western civilization are the original blend together.
Referring to Western Europe, North America's modern culture, including the Western world in a common standards, values, customs and so on. And the Western word corresponds to the Orthodox, Asia or the Islamic countries, the Third World or developing countries. Was also corresponds to the communist countries of the former Soviet Union.
Western culture the concept of the Western world and usually associated with the traditional definition. According to the definition of Western culture in literature, science, music, philosophy, as well as the principles of collection, and is different from other major civilizations. The suspension will apply to immigrants in Western Europe or the strong influence of colonial countries and is not limited to Western Europe. Most of these traditions to be included in the classic Western.
Western culture has been used in many ways, whether or not the actual use of the right, including the United States culture, materialism, industrialism, capitalism and commercialism, of hedonism, imperialism, modernism, as well as explanations of Western civilization.
Western culture is often that originated in ancient Greece, Roman Empire, Catholic, Protestant, which were collectively known as the Jewish - Christian culture. However, Western culture is also rooted in Germans, Slavs, as well as the Celtics popular culture, the culture is a culture of medieval Europe to form an important driving force.
In Western culture, literature, music, philosophy and religion, has been extremely rich. Important tradition include:
Scholasticism
Catholic
Protestant
Humanism
Renaissance
Age of Enlightenment
Secularization
Scientific method
1 century BC, Greece after the fall of the Roman Empire, has absorbed the ancient Greek science, philosophy, democracy, architecture, literature and the arts, and on this basis for further development.
Over the next 500 years, despite the refusal of the Roman Empire in ancient Athens very avant-garde ideas of democracy, but it will be Greek, Latin spread with the Roman law in Europe. Rome cultural integration of the Germanic, Slavic and Celtic culture, but with the decline of Rome, Greece and Rome (Greco-Roman) many of the arts, literature and science have disappeared or replaced.
With the advancement of the Christian Holy Bible in literature and art in the West to become the core of almost affected all areas of Western culture, including art, law, philosophy, education and politics. Rome has set up a number of Christian Theological Seminary, and now many universities, colleges that is the origin of this, in general, these colleges to promote the early spread of Western culture. Preservation of a number of Arab culture in ancient Greece and ancient Rome's knowledge, with the Crusades, Spain, the Levant with the Moors of Arab culture, have an impact on Western Europe, and finally in the 14th century, Greece's cultural heritage again Western Europe has been found, the Renaissance was born.
The 16th century, the Renaissance of Western culture by explorers, settlers, missionaries, businessmen, as well as spread to the New World. Then the Age of Enlightenment in the American Revolution, the French Revolution when it peaked. Some ideas, such as civil rights, equality before the law, justice and democracy, which constitutes an ideal society, for the first time be put into practice. These guidelines have now become the cornerstone of modern Western culture.
The 19th century, the United States began to develop self-Western culture, in the 1950s, to dominate, together with the American fashion, entertainment, technology and politics, the proliferation of other Western world.
Worldwide, Western culture on the other elements of culture has a strong influence. Many cultures, including Western and non-Western, will be "modern" and "Westernization" and the same weight as, of course, there are many non-Western, will oppose the adoption of Western ideas and values as a society for all the inevitable. Some members of the non-Western world, they will be the West's scientific and technological progress with different values, because of Western values and their local community values differ, as a reason to object to most of the "modernization."
Indisputable is that the composition of the so-called "modern" concept of technology, most of the social model, since the development of the Western world. However, these technical and social model, is the essence of Western culture is part of the problem is more difficult to answer. According to many scientific evidence that can not answer this question, replaced by a "values" issues, must be the value of the system (such as philosophy, religion, political theory) to find the answer. Of course, many anthropologists now part of the show in the physical environment and day-to-day activities, with the formation of culture (since found that the ecological and cultural) relationships. As a result, "modernization" and "modern" technology, not only on the "scientific" (that is, physically), may also be closely linked with some kind of culture, Western culture, for example, in the absence of these technologies, like the Western culture Well-known through the ages have a different situation.
Because of culture, arts, literature, history and respect the role of the cornerstones of Western culture in the school curriculum in Europe and the United States to occupy a dominant position. The beginning of the 1970s, known as a multi-cultural awakening of a new culture policy, began to encourage learning in the West Africa, Asia, culture, history and art, this policy into the 1990s, after speeding up progress.
In addition to food, literature, art, music, religion, and politics, Western culture in many aspects different from other cultures in the world.
Freedom as the most important value, led to many other species of Asian culture;
Has a strong scientific and technological innovation capacity at the same time firmly believe that progress;
On privacy and civil rights have a strong sense;
Sex, monogamy somewhat random manner;
Personal honor rarely lead to suicide duties, in the name of suicide;
Agreed that political corruption will lead to economic inefficiency;
Focus on the nuclear family, rather than the extended family.
The Western world is a major feature of the commitment to science and technology, and good at creating new processing, new materials, and the formation of new products. It is in the West, has been the development of the steam engine was used in factories to generate electricity. Four-stroke internal combustion engine and cycle of invention and early development have taken place in the West. Nuclear Power Plant was invented in Chicago. Generators, transformers, electric motors, as well as it can be said that almost all familiar with electrical appliances, all from the West. The new communications equipment and systems, such as the telegraph, telephone, fax, submarine cable, radio and television, communications and navigation satellite, Internet, World Wide Web, which can be attributed to the West. Some common materials, such as concrete, aluminum, glass and bright, synthetic rubber, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and so on, these are Western inventions. The steel-made ships, bridges and the skyscrapers, first appeared in the West. Vaccination, anesthesia, MRI, oral contraceptives, as well as all the pure antibiotics from the West. Transistors, integrated circuits, memory chips, computer, mouse and the hard drive in the West have come out, there are pencils, ball pens, CRT, LCD, LED, photography, electrostatic photocopying, laser printers, plasma displays and so on. Miriam longitude of the ship, propeller-driven engines, locomotives, bicycles, automobiles and aircraft, since the invention of the West. Glasses, telescopes, microscopes, electron microscopy, a variety of law chromatography, proteins, DNA sequencing, CT, MRI, X-ray, and white light, ultraviolet, infrared spectra of the study, first of all in western laboratories, hospitals, factories In the development and application. Biochemical disease, diabetes, the source of bacteria is also found in the West by. Ancient curse, known as the eradication of smallpox, is in the West, under the leadership of Donald Henderson started.
In mathematics, calculus, statistics, logic, vector, and tensor, complex analysis, group theory and topology are from the development of the West. Biology, evolution, chromosomes, DNA, genetics and molecular biology methods used are the first in the West. Mechanical physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics by the creation of the West. Atom, atomic nucleus, the electron, proton and the neutron are revealed in the West. Most of the chemical elements, including its composition, have been found in the West. Nitrogen fixation and petrochemical products is also a credit to the West. It is the chemical in the West to become a science.
Westerners also to the Earth and space exploration with that. Global navigation for the first time that the West, first set foot in Antarctica, the first landing on the moon are in the West. Robot landed on Mars and the asteroid, the external layer of the planet to explore travel, these are the achievements Westerners.