Western culture 1

Western culture

Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. A symbol of theimportance of humanism and empiricism in Western

culture since the Renaissance.

Plato along with Socrates and Aristotle were foundingmembers of Western philosophy

Western culture (sometimes equated with Western civilizationor European civilization) refers to cultures of European origin.

Western culture began with the Greeks, was enlarged andstrengthened by the Romans, reformed and modernized by thefifteenth-century Renaissance and Reformation, and globalized bysuccessive European empires that spread the European ways of lifeand education between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries.European Culture developed with a complex range of philosophy,medieval scholasticism and mysticism, Christian and secularhumanism. Rational thinking developed through a long age ofchange and formation with the experiments of enlightenment,naturalism, romanticism, science, democracy, and socialism. Withits global connection, European culture grew with an all-inclusiveurge to adopt, adapt, and ultimately influence other trends ofculture.The term "Western culture" is used very broadly to refer to aheritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs,religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts andtechnologies. Specifically, Western culture may imply:

• a Graeco-Roman Classical and Renaissance culturalinfluence, concerning artistic, philosophic, literary, and legalthemes and traditions, the cultural social effects of migrationperiod and the heritages of Celtic, Germanic, Romanic,Slavic and other ethnic groups, as well as a tradition ofrationalism in various spheres of life, developed byHellenistic philosophy, Scholasticism, Humanisms, theScientific Revolution and Enlightenment, and including, inpolitical thought, widespread rational arguments in favour offreethought, human rights, equality and democratic valuesaverse to irrationality and theocracy.

• a Biblical-Christian cultural influence in spiritual thinking,customs and either ethic or moral traditions, aroundPost-Classical Era.

• Western European cultural influences concerning artistic,musical, folkloric, ethic and oral traditions, whose themeshave been further developed by Romanticism.

The concept of western culture is generally linked to the classicaldefinition of the Western world. In this definition, Western cultureis the set of literary, scientific, political, artistic and philosophicalprinciples which set it apart from other civilizations. Much of thisset of traditions and knowledge is collected in the Western canon.[1]

The term has come to apply to countries whose history is strongly marked by European immigration or settlement,such as the Americas, and Australasia, and is not restricted to Western Europe.

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Some tendencies that define modern Western societies are the existence of political pluralism, prominent subculturesor countercultures (such as New Age movements), increasing cultural syncretism resulting from globalization andhuman migration.

Terminology

Isaac Newton discovered universal gravitation and thelaws of motion.

From its very beginnings in Mesopotamia and then ancientGreece, the East-West distinction has been somewhat difficult todefine with precision. The Greeks were not so different from theirEastern neighbors for example. In the Middle Ages, where Islamwas contrasted to the West, it is of the Islamic Near East, having,since the time of Alexander the Great, been Hellenized, ruled byRome and Constantinople and part of the Orthodox communion,was as much under the influence of Byzantine andBiblical-Christian history as "Christendom". In addition, much ofSouthern and Eastern Europe had fallen under Islamic rule atvarious times during the Middle Ages.

In the later 20th to early 21st century, with the advent ofincreasing globalism, it has become more difficult to determinewhich individuals fit into which category, and the East–Westcontrast is sometimes criticized as relativistic and arbitrary.[2] [3]

[4]

Globalism has, especially since the end of the cold war, spreadwestern ideas so widely that almost all modern countries orcultures are to some extent influenced by aspects of westernculture which they have absorbed. Recent stereotyped Western views of "the West" have been labelledOccidentalism, paralleling Orientalism, the term for the 19th century stereotyped views of "the East".

Geographically, "The West" today would normally be said to include Catholic and Protestant Europe as well as theoverseas territories belonging to the Anglosphere, the Hispanidad, the Lusofonia or the Francophonie.

HistoryWestern culture is neither homogeneous nor unchanging. As with all other cultures it has evolved and graduallychanged over time. All generalities about it have their exceptions at some time and place. The organisation andtactics of the Greek Hoplites differed in many ways from the Roman legions. The polis of the Greeks is not the sameas the American superpower of the 21st century. The gladiatorial games of the Roman Empire are not identical topresent-day football. The art of Pompeii is not the art of Hollywood. Nevertheless, it is possible to follow theevolution and history of the West, and appreciate its similarities and differences, its borrowings from, andcontributions to, other cultures of humanity.Concepts of what is the West arose out of legacies of the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire.Later, ideas of the west were formed by the concepts of Christendom and the Holy Roman Empire. What we think ofas Western thought today is generally defined as Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian culture, and includes the idealsof the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

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The Classical West

Alexander the Great.

The Colosseum in Rome.

The Classical West was Graeco-Roman/Celtic/Germanic Europe.In Homeric literature, and right up until the time of Alexander theGreat, for example in the accounts of the Persian Wars of Greeksagainst Persians by Herodotus, we see the paradigm of a contrastbetween the West and East.

Nevertheless the Greeks felt they were civilized and saw themselves(in the formulation of Aristotle) as something between the wildbarbarians of most of Europe and the soft, slavish Easterners. Inspiredby Eastern example, and yet felt to be different, ancient Greek science,philosophy, democracy, architecture, literature, and art provided afoundation embraced and built upon by the Roman Empire as it sweptup Europe, including the Hellenic World in its conquests in the 1stcentury BC. In the meantime however, Greece, under Alexander, hadbecome a capital of the East, and part of an empire. The idea that thelater Orthodox or Eastern Christian cultural descendants of theGreek-speaking Eastern Roman empire, are a happy mean betweenEastern slavishness and Western barbarism is promoted to this day, forexample in Russia, creating a zone which is both Eastern and Westerndepending upon the context of discussion.

For about five hundred years, the Roman Empire maintained the GreekEast and consolidated a Latin West, but an East-West divisionremained, reflected in many cultural norms of the two areas, includinglanguage. Although Rome, like Greece, was no longer democratic, theidea of democracy remained a part of the education of citizens, as if theemperors were a temporary emergency measure.

Eventually the empire came to be increasingly officially split into aWestern and Eastern part, reviving old ideas of a contrast between an

advanced East, and a rugged West.With the rise of Christianity in the midst of the Roman world, much of Rome's tradition and culture were absorbedby the new religion, and transformed into something new, which would serve as the basis for the development ofWestern civilization after the fall of Rome. Also, Roman culture mixed with the pre-existing Celtic, Germanic andSlavic cultures, which slowly became integrated into Western culture starting, mainly, with their acceptance ofChristianity.

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The Medieval West

Charlemagne

Christendom and the Crusades

The discovery of the New World byChristoper Columbus

The Medieval West was at its broadest the same as Christendom, including boththe "Latin" or "Frankish" West, and the Orthodox Eastern part, where Greekremained the language of empire. More narrowly, it was Catholic (Latin) Europe.After the crowning of Charlemagne, this part of Europe was referred to by itsneighbors in Byzantium and the Moslem world as "Frankish".

After the fall of Rome much of Greco-Roman art, literature, science and eventechnology were all but lost in the western part of the old empire, centeredaround Italy, and Gaul (France). However, this would become the centre of anew West. Europe fell into political anarchy, with many warring kingdoms andprincipalities. Under the Frankish kings, it eventually reunified and evolved intofeudalism.

Much of the basis of the post-Roman cultural world had been set before the fallof the Empire, mainly through the integrating and reshaping of Roman ideasthrough Christian thought. The Greek and Roman paganism had been completelyreplaced by Christianity around the 4th and 5th centuries, since it became theofficial State religion following the baptism of emperor Constantine I. RomanCatholic Christianity and the Nicene Creed served as a unifying force in WesternEurope, and in some respects replaced or competed with the secular authorities.Art and literature, law, education, and politics were preserved in the teachings ofthe Church, in an environment that, otherwise, would have probably seen theirloss. The Church founded many cathedrals, universities, monasteries andseminaries, some of which continue to exist today. In the Medieval period, theroute to power for many men was in the Church.

In a broader sense, the Middle Ages, with its tension between Greek reasoningand Levantine monotheism was not confined to the West but also stretched intothe old East, in what was to become the Islamic world. Indeed the debatebetween these two streams of thought which is said to define the west waspreserved best there for a while, with Greek literature, and even some Easterntheology, making their way back to Western Europe via Spain and Italy.

The rediscovery of the Justinian Code in the early 10th century rekindled apassion for the discipline of law, which crossed many of the re-formingboundaries between East and West. Eventually, it was only in the Catholic orFrankish west, that Roman law became the foundation on which all legalconcepts and systems were based. Its influence can be traced to this day in allWestern legal systems (although in different manners and to different extents inthe common (England) and the civil (continental European) legal traditions). Thestudy of canon law, the legal system of the Catholic Church, fused with that ofRoman law to form the basis of the refounding of Western legal scholarship. Theideas of civil rights, equality before the law, equality of women, proceduraljustice, and democracy as the ideal form of society, and were principles whichformed the basis of modern Western culture.

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The West actively encouraged the spreading of Christianity, which was inexorably linked to the spread of Westernculture. Owing to the influence of Islamic culture and Islamic civilization — a culture that had preserved some of theknowledge of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, Persia, Greece, and Rome— in Islamic Spain and southern Italy,and in the Levant during the Crusades, Western Europeans translated many Arabic texts into Latin during the MiddleAges. Later, with the fall of Constantinople and the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire, followed by amassive exodus of Greek Christian priests and scholars to Italian towns like Venice, bringing with them as manyscripts from the Byzantine archives as they could, scholars' interest for the Greek language and classic works, topicsand lost files was revived. Both the Greek and Arabic influences eventually led to the beginnings of the Renaissance.From the late 15th century to the 17th century, Western culture began to spread to other parts of the world byintrepid explorers and missionaries during the Age of Discovery, followed by imperialists from the 17th century tothe early 20th century.

The Modern Era

The U.S. Constitution

The Industrial Revolution

Western empires in 1910

Coming into the modern era, the historical understanding of the East-Westcontrast - as the opposition of Christendom to its geographical neighbours -began to weaken. As religion became less important, and Europeans came intoincreasing contact with far away peoples, the old concept of Western Culturebegan a slow evolution towards what it is today. The Early Modern "Age ofDiscovery" in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries faded into the "Age ofEnlightenment" continuing into the 18th, both characterized by the militaryadvantages coming to Europeans from their development of firearms and othermilitary technologies. The "Great Divergence" became more pronounced,making the West the bearer of science and the accompanying revolutions oftechnology and industrialisation. Western political thinking also eventuallyspread in many forms around the world. With the early 19th century "Age ofRevolution" the West entered a period of World empires, massive economic andtechnological advance, and bloody international conflicts continuing into the20th century.

Religion in the meantime has waned considerably in Western Europe, wheremany are agnostic or atheist. Nearly half of the populations of the UnitedKingdom (44-54%), Germany (41-49%), France (43-54%) and the Netherlands(39-44%) are non-theist. However, religious belief in the United States is verystrong, about 75-85% of the population,[5] as also happens in most of LatinAmerica.

As Europe discovered the wider world, old concepts adapted. The Islamic worldwhich had formerly been considered "the Orient" ("the East") more specificallybecame the "Near East" as the interests of the European powers for the first timeinterfered with Qing China and Meiji Japan in the 19th century.[6] Thus, theSino-Japanese War in 1894–1895 occurred in the "Far East", while the troublessurrounding the decline of the Ottoman Empire simultaneously occurred in the"Near East".[7] The "Middle East" in the mid-19th century included the territory

east of the Ottoman empire but West of China, i.e. Greater Persia and Greater India, but is now used synonymouslywith "Near East".

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Politics

The United Nations

The European Union

Despite the Western empires in the past, concepts of democracy and anemphasis on freedom has been seen as distinguishing Western peoplesfrom non-western neighbors.In the Middle Ages and early modern times, the concept of a separationof Church and state developed, allowing for the development of moredistinctive political norms, such as the doctrine of the separation ofpowers, which make modern Western democracy distinct fromdemocracy in general.

In comparison to many other cultures in the world, western culturestend to emphasize the individual. Much of this respect for differenceand individual liberties remain, however, still theoretical, in manyways, among mainstream society, when the individual factorencounters a strong opposition from social customs and consensus, andthus resists to be accepted or understood. This situation, has tended tochange among most progressive sectors of society, as a consequence ofthe many social and counter-cultural movements that the last decadeshave come to see.

Creativity and the expression of the individual is commonlyencouraged in Western culture. New subcultures, art and technologyconstantly emerge. Furthermore, capitalism which is found in almostevery western country, supports a highly individualistic ideology.The forms of government usually adopted in western societies, as apart of a wider, nowadays ruling social-economical liberal capitaliststructure, are multi-party parliamentary or presidential (also 'congressional') systems, frequently referred to asfigurative democracy, which favors some sort of majority consensus when coming to adopt collective decisions.

Widespread influence

The architecture of the White House deliberatelyrecalls ancient Greek temples.

Elements of Western culture have had a very influential affect on othercultures worldwide. People of many cultures, both Western andnon-Western, equate modernization (adoption of technologicalprogress) with westernization (adoption of Western culture). Somemembers of the non-Western world have suggested that the linkbetween technological progress and certain harmful Western valuesprovides a reason why much of "modernity" should be rejected asbeing incompatible with their vision and the values of their societies.These types of argument referring to imperialism and stressing theimportance of freedom from it and the relativist argument that differentcultural norms should be treated equally, are also present in Westernphilosophy.

What is generally uncontested, is that much of the technology and social patterns which make up what is defined as"modernization" were developed in the Western world.

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Music, art, story-telling and architecture

Saint Peter's Basilica

Western literature. WilliamShakespeare's First Folio pictured

Western Art. The Mona Lisa pictured

Some cultural and artistic modalities are also characteristically Western in originand form. While dance, music, visual art, story-telling, and architecture arehuman universals, they are expressed in the West in certain characteristic ways.The symphony has its origins in Italy. Many important musical instruments usedby cultures all over the world were also developed in the West; among them arethe violin, piano, pipe organ, saxophone, trombone, clarinet, and the theremin.The solo piano, symphony orchestra and the string quartet are also importantperforming musical forms.

The ballet is a distinctively Western form of performance dance.[8] The ballroomdance is an important Western variety of dance for the elite. The polka, thesquare dance, and the Irish step dance are very well-known Western forms offolk dance.

Historically, the main forms of western music are European folk, choral,classical, Country, rock and roll, hip-hop, and Electronica.

While epic literary works in verse such as the Mahabarata and Homer's Iliad areancient and occurred worldwide, the novel as a distinct form of story telling onlyarose in the West [9] in the period 1200 to 1750. Photography and the motionpicture as a technology and as the basis for entirely new art forms were alsodeveloped first in the West. The soap opera, a popular culture dramatic formoriginated in the United States first on radio in the 1930s, then a couple ofdecades later on television. The music video was also developed in the West inthe middle of the twentieth century.

The arch, the dome, and the flying buttress as architectural motifs were first usedby the Romans. Important western architectural motifs include the Doric,Corinthian, and Ionic columns, and the Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, andVictorian styles are still widely recognised, and used even today, in the West.Much of Western architecture emphasises repetition of simple motifs, straightlines and expansive, undecorated planes. A modern ubiquitous architectural formthat emphasizes this characteristic is the skyscraper, first developed in New Yorkand Chicago.

Oil painting is said to have originated by Jan van Eyck, and perspective drawingsand paintings had their earliest practitioners in Florence.[10] In art, the Celtic knotis a very distinctive Western repeated motif. Depictions of the nude human maleand female in photography, painting and sculpture are frequently considered tohave special artistic merit. Realistic portraiture is especially valued. In Westerndance, music, plays and other arts, the performers are only very infrequentlymasked. There are essentially no taboos against depicting God, or other religiousfigures, in a representational fashion.

Many forms of popular music have been derived from African-Americans being such as jazz this is what most if notall modern music generally consist's of today.' folklore and music during 20th and 19th centuries, initially by

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Classical music, opera and ballet.Swan lake pictured

Pop music. Elvis Presley pictured

Skyscrapers. Willis Tower pictured

themselves, but later played and further developed together with White & BlackAmericans, British people, and Westerners in general. These include Jazz, Bluesand Rock music (that in a wider sense include the Rock and roll and Heavy metalgenres), Rhythm and blues, Funk, Techno as well as the Ska and Reggae genresfrom Jamaica. Several other related or derived styles were developed andintroduced by western pop culture such as Pop, Metal and Dance Music.

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Scientific and technological inventions and discoveries

Aircraft and Space Travel

Electricity

Computers

Evolution and genetics

A feature of Western culture is its focus on science and technology, and its abilityto generate new processes, materials and material artifacts.[11]

It was the West that first developed steam power and adapted its use intofactories, and for the generation of electrical power.[12] The electrical motor,dynamo, transformer, and electric light, and indeed most of the familiar electricalappliances, were inventions of the West. The Otto and the Diesel internalcombustion engines are products whose genesis and early development were inthe West. Nuclear power stations are derived from the first atomic pileconstructed in Chicago in 1942.

Communication devices and systems including the telegraph, the telephone, radio,television, communication and navigation satellites, mobile phone, and theInternet were all invented by Westerners.[13] The pencil, ballpoint pen, CRT,LCD, LED, photograph, photocopier, laser printer, ink jet printer, plasma displayscreen and world wide web were also invented in the West.

Ubiquitous materials including concrete, aluminum, clear glass, synthetic rubber,synthetic diamond and the plastics polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC andpolystyrene were invented in the West. Iron and steel ships, bridges andskyscrapers first appeared in the West. Nitrogen fixation and petrochemicals wereinvented by Westerners. Most of the elements, were discovered and named in theWest, as well as the contemporary atomic theories to explain them.

The transistor, integrated circuit, memory chip, and computer were all first seen inthe West. The ship's chronometer, the screw propeller, the locomotive, bicycle,automobile, and aeroplane were all invented in the West. Eyeglasses, thetelescope, the microscope and electron microscope, all the varieties ofchromatography, protein and DNA sequencing, computerised tomography, NMR,x-rays, and light, ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy, were all first developedand applied in Western laboratories, hospitals and factories.

In medicine, vaccination, anesthesia, and all the pure antibiotics were created inthe West. The method of preventing Rh disease, the treatment of diabetes, and thegerm theory of disease were discovered by Westerners. The eradication of thatancient scourge, smallpox, was led by a Westerner, Donald Henderson.Radiography, Computed tomography, Positron emission tomography and Medicalultrasonography are important diagnostic tools developed in the West. Otherimportant diagnostic tools of clinical chemistry including the methods ofspectrophotometry, electrophoresis and immunoassay were first devised byWesterners. So were the stethoscope, electrocardiograph, and the endoscope.Vitamins, hormonal contraception, hormones, insulin, Beta blockers and ACEinhibitors,

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Nuclear energy and weapons

Mass Communications and the Internet

along with a host of other medically proven drugs were first utilised totreat disease in the West. The double-blind study and evidence-basedmedicine are critical scientific techniques widely used in the West formedical purposes.

In mathematics, calculus, statistics, logic, vector, tensor and complexanalysis, group theory and topology were developed by Westerners. Inbiology, evolution, chromosomes, DNA, genetics and the methods ofmolecular biology are creatures of the West. In physics, the science ofmechanics and quantum mechanics, relativity, thermodynamics, andstatistical mechanics were all developed by Westerners. The discoveriesand inventions by Westerners in electromagnetism include Coulomb'slaw (1785), the first battery (1800), the unity of electricity andmagnetism (1820), Biot–Savart law (1820), Ohm's Law (1827), and theMaxwell's equations (1871). The atom, nucleus, electron, neutron andproton were all unveiled by Westerners.

In finance, double entry bookkeeping, the limited liability company, lifeinsurance, and the charge card were all first used in the West.

Westerners are also known for their explorations of the globe and space.The first expedition to circumnavigate the Earth (1522) was byWesterners, as well as the first to set foot on the South Pole (1911), andthe first human to land on the moon (1969). The landing of robots onMars (2004) and on an asteroid (2001), and the Voyager explorations ofthe outer planets (Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989) were allachievements of Westerners.

Themes and traditions

Power stations and factories

Western culture has developed many themes and traditions, the most significantof which are:• Greco-Latin classic letters, arts, architecture, philosophical and cultural

tradition, that include the influence of preeminent authors such as Plato,Aristotle, Homer, Herodotus, and Cicero, as well as a long mythologictradition

• A tradition of the importance of the rule of law which has its roots in AncientGreece.

• The Catholic and Protestant Christian cultural tradition and ethic.• Secular humanism, rationalism and Enlightenment thought, as opposed to traditionally preeminent Catholicism

and Protestant Christianity, religious and

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Automobiles and trains

Codified sports. 2004 AthensOlympics pictured.

moral doctrines in lifestyle. Though such opposition has not fully ended, it setthe basis for a new critical attitude and open questioning of religion, favouringfreethinking and questioning of the church as an authority, which resulted inopen-minded and reformist ideals inside, such as liberation theology, whichpartly adopted these currents, and secular and political tendencies such aslaicism, agnosticism, materialism and atheism.

• Widespread usage of terms and specific vocabulary borrowed, based orderived from Greek and Latin roots or etymologies for almost any field ofarts, science and human knowledge, becoming easily understandable andcommon to almost any European language, and being a source for inventinginternationalized neologisms for nearly any purpose. It is not rare for full loanLatin phrases or expressions, such as in situ, grosso modo or tempus fugit, tobe in usage, many of them giving name to artistic or literatic concepts orcurrents. The usage of such roots and phrases is standardized in giving officialscientific names for biological species (such as Homo sapiens orTyrannosaurus rex). This shows a reverence for these languages, calledclassicism.

• Generalized usage of some form of the Latin or Greek alphabet. The latterincludes the standard cases of Greece and other derived forms, such as Cyrillic, the case of those Slavic Easterncountries of Christian Orthodox tradition, historically under the Byzantine and later Russian czarist or Soviet areaof influence. Other variants of it are encountered for Gothic and Coptic alphabets, that historically substitutedolder scripts, such as Runic, and Demotic or Hieroglyphic systems.

• Scholasticism.• Renaissance arts and letters.• Natural law, human rights, constitutionalism, parliamentarism (or presidentialism) and formal liberal democracy

in recent times — prior to the 19th century, most Western governments were still monarchies.• A large influence, in modern times, of many of the ideals and values developed and inherited from Romanticism• Several subcultures (sometimes deriving into urban tribes) and countercultural movements, such as hippie

lifestyle or New Age, that have left several influences on contemporary mainstream or subcultural tendencies(some of them, especially in the mainstream, can become merely aesthetic).

See also• Eastern culture• History of western civilization• Western World• Westernisation• Western religion• Western philosophy• Globalization• The Enlightenment• Industrial Revolution• Culture during the Cold WarBooks:

• Death of the West• Death, Desire and Loss in Western Culture by Jonathan Dollimore

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Maps

Latin alphabet worlddistribution. The dark greenareas shows the countrieswhere this alphabet is thesole main script. The lightgreen shows the countries

where the alphabet co-existswith other scripts

Legal Systems of the World Religions of the world,mapped by distribution.

Map showing relative degree ofreligiosity by country. Based on a2006-2008 worldwide survey by

Gallup.

Human language families

References• Sailen Debnath, "Secularism: Western and Indian,", ISBN 9788126913664, Atlantic Publishers, New Delhi• Jones, Prudence and Pennick, Nigel A History of Pagan Europe Barnes & Noble (1995) ISBN 0-7607-1210-7.• Ankerl, Guy (2000) [2000], Global communication without universal civilization, INU societal research, Vol.1:

Coexisting contemporary civilizations : Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western, Geneva: INU Press,ISBN 2-88155-004-5

• Barzun, Jacques From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the PresentHarperCollins (2000) ISBN 0-06-017586-9.

• Merriman, John Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present W. W. Norton (1996) ISBN0-393-96885-5.

• Derry, T. K. and Williams, Trevor I. A Short History of Technology: From the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900 Dover(1960) ISBN 0-486-27472-1.

• Eduardo Duran, Bonnie Dyran Native American Postcolonial Psychology [14] 1995 Albany: State University ofNew York Press ISBN 0791423530

• McClellan, James E. III and Dorn, Harold Science and Technology in World History Johns Hopkins UniversityPress (1999) ISBN 0-8018-5869-0

• Stein, Ralph The Great Inventions Playboy Press (1976) ISBN 0-87223-444-4.• Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology: The Lives & Achievements of

1510 Great Scientists from Ancient Times to the Present Revised second edition, Doubleday (1982) ISBN0-385-17771-2.

• Pastor, Ludwig von, History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives ofthe Vatican and other original sources, 40 vols. St. Louis, B. Herder (1898ff.)

• Walsh, James Joseph, The Popes and Science; the History of the Papal Relations to Science During the MiddleAges and Down to Our Own Time, Fordam University Press, 1908, reprinted 2003, Kessinger Publishing. ISBN0-7661-3646-9 Reviews: P.462 [15] [16]

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Further reading• Stearns, P.N. (2003). Western Civilization in World History. New York: Routledge.

References[1] Duran 1995, p.81[2] Yin Cheong Cheng, New Paradigm for Re-engineering Education. Page 369[3] Ainslee Thomas Embree, Carol Gluck, Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching. Page xvi[4] Kwang-Sae Lee, East and West: Fusion of Horizons[5] Zuckerman, P. 2005. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns" (http:/ / www. pitzer. edu/ academics/ faculty/ zuckerman/ atheism. html)

Pitzer College. Retrieved: 2006-06-21.[6] Davidson, Roderic H. (1960), "Where is the Middle East?", Foreign Affairs 38: 665–675.[7] British archaeologist D.G. Hogarth published The Nearer East in 1902, which helped to define the term and its extent, including Albania,

Montenegro, southern Serbia and Bulgaria, Greece, Egypt, all the Ottoman lands, the entire Arabian Peninsula, and western parts of Iran.[8] Barzun, p 329[9] Barzun, p. 380[10] Barzun, p 73[11] Holmes, Richard (2008), The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, New York:

Pantheon Books, ISBN 978-0-375-42222-5[12] Jonnes, Jill (1997), Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Elecrify the World, New York: Norton,

ISBN 0-393-04124-7[13] Riordan, Michael (2003), Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age, New York: Random House, ISBN 0-375-50739-6[14] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=qgVoY7mypa4C[15] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?vid=02tZKPD5CJrIa31EgK& id=G57Y1rlQVP0C& pg=PT2& lpg=PT2& dq=%22the+ popes+ and+

science%22[16] http:/ / www. pubmedcentral. nih. gov/ articlerender. fcgi?artid=1407075

Article Sources and Contributors 14

Article Sources and ContributorsWestern culture  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=386453677  Contributors: 119, 16@r, 2nd Piston Honda, Acer, AdamRetchless, Adambiswanger1, Al Lemos, Alexhsu829,Allmightyduck, Altenmann, Aminullah, Andrew Lancaster, Andy Marchbanks, Andycjp, Angr, Angusmclellan, Antandrus, AnthroLibrarian, Arcillaroja, Arnoutf, Ask123, BD2412, BMF81,Bambuway, Barticus88, Belligero, BertSen, Bgillesp, Bobblehead, Bobblewik, Bornintheguz, Brazzy, BrendelSignature, Brian Boru is awesome, Brian1979, Bruce1ee, C777, CALR, Cab88,Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Canadianism, Celareon, Celebration1981, Cenarium, Chedorlaomer, Cheese Sandwich, Chowbok, Chris 73, Cleric13598, Cloigeann, Cometstyles, Corgana,Cotoco, CyrilleDunant, Cyrius, D6, DTMGO, Daanschr, DabMachine, Danny, Darien McLean, Dasani, David ekstrand, Dbachmann, DeepQuasar, Delta x, Demophon, Dimitrii, Discospinster,Djnjwd, Dltkddn017, DocWatson42, Dogsgomoo, Dojarca, Dom0803, DonSiano, Doniago, Doops, Doorwerth, Dougweller, Dpr, DrWorm, Drib55, Drmies, Droll, Eduen, EikwaR, Eilangko, ElC, Ember of Light, Eraserhead1, Eu.stefan, Euchiasmus, Everyking, F Notebook, FFMG, Favonian, Feco, Femto, Firsfron, Fishal, Fitzgettys28, Floquenbeam, Formeruser-81, Francs2000, Frank,Furlong23, Gabbe, Gadfium, Gaf.arq, Gaius Cornelius, Goethean, Gogo Dodo, Grafen, Grant65, Gregorik, Gregsh, Grml14, Gugganij, Gunslinger1812, HEL, Hadal, Harry R, Hibernian, Hmains,Hojibe, Hornlitz, Horst, Howrealisreal, IJA, Inter16, IoannisKaramitros, Isnow, Itschris, J.delanoy, J04n, Jack62, Jagged 85, Jakes18, JamesAM, Janet13, Jcchat66, JdeJ, Jeffq, Jerome CharlesPotts, Jiddisch, Jim.henderson, Jlittlet, JoeFriday, JoeSmack, John, John of Reading, Jon Awbrey, Jonathunder, Joseph Solis in Australia, Josephprymak, Joshuatsk, Jossi, Joutsen-DD, Joy, KarolLangner, Kayau, Keilana, Ken Gallager, Kenneth M Burke, Kim Bruning, Knowledge-is-power, Kubigula, Kuru, L Trezise, Lacrimosus, Lankiveil, LeaveSleaves, LeeG, LemborLembor, Leoni2,Levineps, Lightmouse, LilHelpa, LittleOldMe, Lockesdonkey, Lucius1976, Lucky13pjn, Lukas19, Lupitaº, LupusCanis, Lussmu, Lviatour, Lycurgus, Lyellin, Lyrl, M5891, MPS, MaGioZal,Maelnuneb, Malo, Mark Dingemanse, Markwiki, Mathsci, Mattabat, MaxSem on AWB wheels, Maximus Rex, Mb nl, Meridius, Mets501, Michael Hardy, Mick Knapton, Mike in Aus, Mild BillHiccup, Minnachen1220, Misheu, Mitth'raw'nuruodo, Mmmready, Modulatum, Munci, Mushin, Myanw, Naval Scene, NawlinWiki, Nectarflowed, NeilTarrant, Neoaeolian, Netrat, NickelShoe,Nigholith, Nikodemos, Nrobin9, Ntsimp, Nummer29, Nurg, PDanger, PTSE, Paolo.dL, Paul August, Paulata0912, Paxse, Pd THOR, Pearle, PeterSymonds, Pgk, Philip Baird Shearer, PhilipTrueman, PiCo, Piotrus, Porfyrios, Provocateur, Pryde 01, Qrfqr, RHaworth, Rachel's T-Shirt, Radagast83, Rattis1, Reddi, Reinyday, Rex Germanus, Riana, Rich257, Rickyrab, Rjwilmsi, RobertA West, Rosh2610, Rracecarr, RxS, Ryulong, Saddhiyama, Sailor1889, Salaka, Sam Hocevar, Sandstein, Schrandit, Schröe!, Schumi555, Sean Heron, Sfdan, Shoaler, Sijo Ripa, Simon Kidd,Skinnyweed, Slrubenstein, Sonjaaa, SteinbDJ, Stephenb, Stevertigo, Storleone, Sunray, Swerqitamin, TACJ, TJ Black, TJRC, Taraborn, Tellervo, Template namespace initialisation script,Terebigemuwan, Tesi1700, That Guy, From That Show!, The Land, TheThankful, Thomas Paine1776, ThorJH, Thue, Tide rolls, TimBentley, Tinton5, Tom Lougheed, Tom harrison, Tonyberge,Topbanana, Towsonu2003, Tsuji, Tutmosis, Twsx, Tygrrr, Tysto, UkPaolo, Ultrogothe, Unionin, Usergreatpower, Utcursch, Uuu87, Vald, Velvetron, Verdy p, Vexorg, Viper55, Volucris,WHEELER, Weixifan, Wensei78, Whitejay251, Wiglaf, Willam-pitt, Wingedsubmariner, Woohookitty, Xezbeth, Xinghuei, Yaik9a, Yeggly, Ynysgrif, Yorkshirian, Zaqarbal, Zero g, 525anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Da Vinci Vitruve Luc Viatour.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Da_Vinci_Vitruve_Luc_Viatour.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Original drawing:Photograpy:File:Platon-2b.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Platon-2b.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Gregbard, Hnsampat, Interstate295revisited, Pollinosisss, Steipe,4 anonymous editsFile:GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Algorithme,Beyond My Ken, Bjankuloski06en, Grenavitar, Infrogmation, Kelson, Kilom691, Porao, Saperaud, Semnoz, Siebrand, Sparkit, Thomas Gun, Wknight94, Wst, Zaphod, 4 anonymous editsImage:Aleksander-d-store.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Aleksander-d-store.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Gunnar Bach PedersenFile:Colosseum-exterior-2007.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Colosseum-exterior-2007.JPG  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0  Contributors:User:Phoenixxx74File:Image-Charlemagne-by-Durer.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Image-Charlemagne-by-Durer.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Darwinius, Srnec,Thomas Gun, W!B:, Wst, XenophonImage:1099jerusalem.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:1099jerusalem.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: -Image:Eertvelt, Santa Maria.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Eertvelt,_Santa_Maria.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Dmitry Rozhkov, Jan Arkesteijn, Morio,Shizhao, WerckmeisterImage:Constitution Pg1of4 AC.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Constitution_Pg1of4_AC.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Davepape, Diego pmc, Edge3,Gorgo, Keeleysam, Krinkle, Man vyi, Selket, Spikebrennan, Str4nd, Tiptoety, Tom, UpstateNYer, Yonatanh, 10 anonymous editsFile:Zeche Mittelfeld Ilmenau.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Zeche_Mittelfeld_Ilmenau.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Ma-Lik, Michael Sander, Nagy,2 anonymous editsFile:World 1910.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:World_1910.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: HéctorTabaré, Roke, W!B:File:UN General Assembly hall.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:UN_General_Assembly_hall.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Patrick GrubanFile:European flag outside the Commission.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:European_flag_outside_the_Commission.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution2.0  Contributors: Xavier HäpeFile:Whitehouse north.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Whitehouse_north.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Alkivar, Dapete, TCYFile:Vatican City at Large.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Vatican_City_at_Large.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0  Contributors: DenghiùComm,FlickrLickr, LalupaFile:First Folio.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:First_Folio.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Aristeas, Cowardly Lion, GeorgHH, Ham, Herbythyme, Manvyi, Olaf Simons, Xover, 9 anonymous editsFile:Mona Lisa.jpeg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mona_Lisa.jpeg  License: unknown  Contributors: Aavindraa, Amandajm, AndreasPraefcke, Avatar, AzaToth,Bjankuloski06en, Blurpeace, Cybershot800i, Czarnoglowa, Dbenbenn, Diligent, Eusebius, Herbythyme, Imagechanger, Mikael Häggström, Miniwark, Movieevery, OldakQuill, Paris 16,PhilFree, Schaengel89, Trockennasenaffe, Ustas, Wst, Wutsje, Yann, 13 anonymous editsFile:Swanlake001.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Swanlake001.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0  Contributors: scillystuff from UKFile:Elvis presley.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Elvis_presley.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: w:Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.Reproduction Number: LC-USZ6-2067 Location: NYWTS -- BIOGFile:Sears Tower ss.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sears_Tower_ss.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Aubergine, Dual Freq, EVula, Infrogmation, JeremyA,VinceB, Wutsje, 11 anonymous editsImage:Ba b747-400 g-bnle arp.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ba_b747-400_g-bnle_arp.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Apalsola, Ardfern, Arpingstone,Wo st 01Image:Compact-Fluorescent-Bulb.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Compact-Fluorescent-Bulb.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PiccoloNamekImage:Columbia Supercomputer - NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Columbia_Supercomputer_-_NASA_Advanced_Supercomputing_Facility.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Trower, NASAImage:DNA orbit animated.gif  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:DNA_orbit_animated.gif  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Original uploaderwas Richard Wheeler (Zephyris) at en.wikipediaImage:Nuclear fireball.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Nuclear_fireball.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Conscious, Dbenbenn, Fastfission, Holek,Kaihsu, MichuNeo, 3 anonymous editsImage:Fibreoptic.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Fibreoptic.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: BigRizFile:Susquehanna steam electric station.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Susquehanna_steam_electric_station.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Originaluploader was Garthhh at en.wikipedia

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 15

File:Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 2 cropped.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mercedes-Benz_SLR_McLaren_2_cropped.jpg  License: Public Domain Contributors: Cars en travel, cropped by ZoidFile:Olympic flame at opening ceremony.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Olympic_flame_at_opening_ceremony.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: User:AlteregoFile:Latin alphabet world distribution.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Latin_alphabet_world_distribution.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: User:FlrnImage:LegalSystemsOfTheWorldMap.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:LegalSystemsOfTheWorldMap.png  License: unknown  Contributors: Aldaron, C.Löser,CRGreathouse, Cassowary, Conscious, David Kernow, Dsmurat, Eugrus, Herbythyme, Javitomad, Maphobbyist, Pseudomoi, Ran, RedCoat, Santosga, Satesclop, Wikiliki, 3 anonymous editsFile:Major religions distribution.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Major_religions_distribution.png  License: unknown  Contributors: Usergreatpower (talk)File:Religion in the world.PNG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Religion_in_the_world.PNG  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors: User:Sbw01fFile:Human Language Families (wikicolors).png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Human_Language_Families_(wikicolors).png  License: Apache  Contributors:User:Mike A Mitchel jr

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