Arts and Humanities Commons^™

5. The Rise Of English Parliamentary Government (1603-1789), Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section IX: Early Modern Europe, 1500-1789

The century in which Richelieu and Louis XIV fashioned an absolute dynastic state in France is noteworthy in English history for a very different reason. While the state was being set for Louis XIV to declare, if he wished, "I am the state," Englishmen were establishing the principle that all political authority is limited by law. This idea, which is called constitutionalism, was surely not new, having had its roots in English, feudal, and medieval history. But, what is profoundly significant for Western Civilization is that this idea became an operative political principle in late seventeenth century England. In the …

4. Athens: Socrates, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section I: Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem: Background of Western Civilization

Later Greek philosophers started with questions somewhat different from those of their predecessors. Instead of asking about the nature of the universe, they first concerned themselves with the nature of man, how he can know, and what he should do. These questions ultimately led them back to the earlier ones, but now with a different perspective. This change in emphasis came as the life of the independent city-state was drawing to its unhappy close and as it seemed that men were being cast adrift on uncharted seas. Three great figures dominate this period of ~ Greek philosophy by virtue of …

Xx. Meaning In The Physical Sciences, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XX: Meaning in the Physical Sciences

The twentieth century has seen two major revolutions in our theories of physics concerning nature, and these have made us change many of our concepts about the terms in which nature can be described. The new theories born in these revolutions are the theory of relativity and of quantum mechanics. The biological sciences had their revolutions in the nineteenth century, and while remarkable progress has been made since, nothing comparable to that upheaval has occurred in this century. Of the two massive changes in the concepts of the physical sciences, we can discuss but one here. [excerpt]

4. Nationalism As An Idea, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XIII: Political Liberalism and Nationalism, 1815-1871

Nationalism may be described as a state of mind which gives priority to the idea of nationality. Nationality in turn refers to a group of people who pride themselves on their common descent, customs, or traditions. As a rule these people inhabit a well-defined geographic area and are united by a common language. Often they tend to exhibit a collective egoism, convinced that their particular culture and ethnic stock are superior to all others. Some notable exceptions to these generalizations exist, yet even these exceptions are also characterized by what has been called "a living and active corporate will" as …

2. Medieval Feudalism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section II: Medieval, Political and Economic Development: Feudalism and Manorialism

Feudalism was the natural response to the greatest political need of the Dark Ages: security. Since there was no central government capable of providing this security, men fell back on their own resources, making local arrangements. Already, in the last chaotic centuries of imperial rule, Roman magnates had supported, and had been supported by, groups of clients. Among the Germanic tribes beyond the imperial frontiers, a roughly similar system of armed personal retainers had existed. From these precedents and from sheer necessity, feudalism was created in the Carolingian state in the ninth and tenth centuries. Thence it was transplanted in …

7. The Making Of France As A National State, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section V: The Rise of Capitalism and the National State to 1500

The west Frankish kingdom of Charles the Bald, which he had received in 843 as his portion of his grandfather's great empire, is geographically the genesis of modern France. In the century of disorder and confusion following the partition of Charlemagne's realm into three kingdoms, government fell into the hands of powerful vassals. From the first, therefore, great lords in France exercised the functions of independent rulers. In 987 they chose one of the weaker of their number, Hugh Capet (987-996), to be king. He and his successors faced two great problems in establishing nationhood in France: how to recover …

3. The Expansion Of Europe, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section IX: Early Modern Europe, 1500-1789

Concurrent with the political and diplomatic developments just described, and exercising a significant influence upon them, there occurred a vast overseas expansion of Western Civilization. Although the Crusades were the first phase of this expansion, not until the early modern period did European energies burst forth with sufficient vigor that their impact became worldwide. In the intervening centuries such things as the growth of commercial capitalism, the rise of the strong national state, and the intellectual upsurge associated with the Renaissance prepared Europeans for the mighty task of discovering, exploring, and colonizing areas in all parts of the globe. [ …

5. Immanuel Kant And Critical Idealism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XII: The Post-Enlightenment Period

The ideas of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) are significant enough to be compared to a watershed in Western thought. In his mind were gathered up the major interests of the Enlightenment: science, epistemology, and ethics; and all of these were given a new direction which he himself described as another Copernican revolution. As Copernicus had shown that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the sun around the earth, so Kant showed that the knowing subject played an active and creative role in the production of his world picture, rather than the static and passive role which the early Enlightenment …

3. The Economic Scene (1919-1939), Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XVIII: The Western World in the Twentieth Century: The Historical Setting

Control over the processes of production was made more efficient by the application of the new techniques of scientific management, a concept which first achieved prominence in America. Uneconomic producers were closed down in what was called rationalization of production. In Britain, unprofitable coal mines were abandoned through cooperation between government and business. In some cases, plant efficiency was increased by better layout and labor-saving machines. American coal mining was revolutionized by the conveyor belt and mechanical cutting equipment. Material-saving devices were introduced, such as those which reduced the amount of coal necessary to generate a kilowatt of electricity. Standardization …

3. The Reformed Formulation, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VII: The Protestant Movement

The Protestant movement on the Continent may be divided into three parts: a conservative expression in Lutheranism, a diverse radical expression typified by Anabaptism, and a medial expression in the Reformed churches. The latter arose from two separate representations of the Protestant spirit, both in Switzerland: the Zwinlian in Zurich and, later, the Calvinist in Geneva. [excerpt]

3. Galileo, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VIII: The Development of Modern Science

Of all the early proponents of the Copernican theory, Galileo was perhaps the most renowned and certainly one of the most effective.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was educated in the classical, Aristotelian manner. He showed good promise, and began the study of medicine. The medical sciences failed to hold his interest, and he became intrigued with the study of physics and mathematics. He progressed so well in these fields that when twenty-five he was teaching at the University of Pisa. Even as he studied and taught the current physics and astronomy, he became convinced of the inadequacies of many Aristotelian principles. …

3. The Science Of Man, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section X: The Eighteenth Century Enlightenment

Perhaps the chief achievement of the Enlightenment was the creation of the social sciences and the application of these sciences to the problems of human existence. The selections which follow offer a first-hand glimpse of the type of work that Enlightenment thinkers accomplished in the fields of psychology, economics, political science, and ethics. The selections are but fragments of thorough, systematic analyses of the foregoing subjects. However, our primary interest here is to understand some of the important assumptions and conclusions rather than to acquire a detailed knowledge of each of the sciences. The ideas presented may seem oversimplified and …

6. Nationalism Develops In The United States, 1789-1871, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XIII: Political Liberalism and Nationalism, 1815-1871

Nationalism as a political creed found roots also in the Western Hemisphere. The United States took a large step toward greater national unity in 1789 when George Washington became the first American President (1789-1797) under the new federal constitution. But just as citizens of the new republic debated the relative merits of aristocratic or democratic government, so they argued without essential agreement on the nature of their union -- whether the locus of authority should reside in the central government or be reserved to the individual states. The followers of Alexander Hamilton, the Federalists, interpreted the Constitution as permitting stronger …

8. The Gothic Cathedral, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section III: The Medieval Church

The Gothic cathedral, like the Summa of Aquinas, the University of Paris, and the Christendom of Innocent III, stands as one of the major expressions of the spirit of the High Middle Ages. The word "Gothic," coined by the Renaissance as a term of disparagement, has come recently to have more favorable and appreciative connotations. Such a reevaluation may be due not only to the better perspective that a longer period of time offers us, but also to a deeper understanding of the cultural role of artistic and spiritual symbolism. The artistic expression of the Middle Ages found its supreme …

3. Edmund Burke And Conservatism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XII: The Post-Enlightenment Period

Edmund Buxke (1729-1797) has often been compared to John Wesley, and there are several bases for such a comparison. Both infused a new life and meaning into the coin temporary formal structure of politics and religion, respectively. Both helped to bring the spoken word to a new level of influence. Both significantly changed the style of speaking and writing, emphasizing the particular and immediate problems rather than abstract and general principles. And both gave a strong moral emphasis to their thoughts and actions. Burke's style has long been considered one of the outstanding models for English prose and oratory. [ …

1. Rome: Republic And Empire, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section I: Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem: Background of Western Civilization

It is believed that about the same time certain barbarian people were entering Greece from the north, others came into the Italian peninsula from the same direction. A fusion with earlier inhabitants similar to that which took place in Greece produced the Italian people of recorded history. In terms of mountains, soil, mineral resources, and climate, there were similarities between the two countries, with Italy in general being the more favored. There was a significant difference: the relative lack of navigable rivers and natural harbors offered much less inducement for trade and commerce than was the case in Greece. Throughout …

7. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel And Absolute Idealism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XII: The Post-Enlightenment Period

It is quite fitting for a number of reasons that this chapter on the post-Enlightenment should conclude with a section on Hegel's interpretation of idealism. He gave expression to most of the criticisms of the Enlightenment, and appropriated many of its constructive suggestions. He gave voice and content to the later period's demand for a positive and constructive philosophy, one which made room for ethics, art, and religion. The influence of his thought was tremendous, immediately in Prussia where it became a philosophical basis for the expansion of that state, and later as it spread to England and the United …

3. Rome: Roman Citizenship, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section I: Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem: Background of Western Civilization

The Roman concept of citizenship represents both a measure of their capacity to govern and one of their key contributions to Western culture. In the Greek city-state, citizenship was something which could not be separated from the intimate and varied life of the polis. It enabled a man to live the good life because it entitled him to participate in all the activities which the polis sponsored. Justice, Plato wrote, meant that every man in this society was doing that for which he was best suited and was receiving in return what was his due. It was the result of …

Xix. An Analysis Of The Contemporary World's Search For Meaning, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XIX: An Analysis of the Contemporary World’s Search for Meaning

Any analysis of the contemporary world which is to be valid must begin with the individual's own local situation and immediate problems. How far it ranges in space and time beyond this depends on the capacity, imagination, and intellectual staying power of those who begin such a quest. Because this book is written for students in the United States it will take this country as the platform from which to launch its analysis. This is not to imply that the European emphasis which has characterized our work thus far is now irrelevant. It is rather to face the fact that …

7. Jerusalem: St. Augustine, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section I: Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem: Background of Western Civilization

Perhaps no individual after Paul exercised an influence on t he history of Christianity comparable to that of Augustine (354- 430). Beyond a doubt the greatest of the Latin Church fathers, he lived during the years when the formative period of the Christian Church was drawing to its close. By the time of his death, the polity, the doctrine, and many of the practices which the Western Church was to carry into the Middle Ages were already clearly recognizable, if not finally set. It was the contribution of Augustine, during the last half of a long and eventful life, to …

1. The Problem, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XX: Meaning in the Physical Sciences

Newton's laws of motion and their associated definitions encountered their first difficulty near the middle of the nineteenth century.

Newton had designed his theory to describe the behavior of matter in space and time by inventing a relationship between the force on a body and the resulting change in motion of the body. Such a description of nature came to be called mechanical, and a large part of physicists' efforts were directed toward reducing all aspects of physics to mechanics. These efforts were rewarded magnificently in the fields of heat, electricity, and sound, in addition to astronomy and other more …

6. Ian T. Ramsey, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XXIII: Theological Meaning

In view of the requirement of verifiability that is demanded by certain philosophical schools, there seems little justification for what are conventionally recognized as theological statements. Certainly no one man has yet succeeded, except perhaps to his own satisfaction, in expressing religious notions in such language and in verifying by such a method that universal consent is gained for the validity of his system. If the charm of empirical verification is not invoked, then for some minds there is little reason to say anything. Obviously, given such rigid requirements for securing a sympathetic audience, theological discussion may find itself standing …

Xvi. Developments In Socialism, (1848-1914), Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XVI: Developments in Socialism, 1848-1914

The era between the revolutionary upheavals in Europe in 1848 and the opening of World War I was one of immense changes. Encompassing such developments as nationalism, the Industrial Revolution, the growth of political and economic liberalism, and the rise of the social sciences, this period contributed some of the most significant ideas and institutions which characterize contemporary Western Civilization. Their impact. Indeed, now challenges virtually the entire world.

In the same age there arose the phenomenon of socialism, a family name for a group of ideas which received increasing attention in the latter half of the nineteenth century as …

7. Athens: Summary, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section I: Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem: Background of Western Civilization

The Golden Age of Greece was confined to the relatively short period of two centuries. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B. C., the vast empire he had built fell apart, and his generals tried to pick up the pieces. By that time the Greek polis no longer possessed the vitality that was reflected in the funeral oration of Pericles. Something like cultural lethargy began to settle upon the descendants of Herodotus and Socrates. The center of learning switched from Athens to Alexandria, in Egypt. [excerpt]

3. Soren Kierkegaard And Karl Barth, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XXIII: Theological Meaning

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) seldom left his native city, Copenhagen, and, except for two brief visits to Berlin, never left Denmark. The externals of his life were rather ordinary for the son of a wealthy hosier. He always employed at least one servant and dressed in the best of fashion, but his death found him with the last of his income in his pocket. He was a lonely man seeking only one or two intimate friends, passing the daily pleasantries with everyone, but warding off with his masterful use of irony most of those who tried to befriend him. When he …

Xv. Biology And The Rise Of The Social Sciences, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XV: Biology and the Rise of the Social Sciences

Modern science, it has been said, has undergone three revolutions: the Copernican, the Newtonian, and the Darwinian. This oversimplification is valid if our standard of judgment is social impact. The Newtonian synthesis, which absorbed the Copernican, had convinced men that the physical universe behaved in accordance with inviolable natural laws and that these laws could be expressed mathematically. With the confidence inspired by this world picture, science sought to find those natural laws under which the animate and inanimate aspects of the world operated. Equally influential was the tradition which cherished the ideal of the conquest of nature through the …

1. Introduction, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XXI: Meaning in the Social Sciences

Vastly increased research and a sounder technique in history in the nineteenth century had two influences on the social sciences. When an enthusiasm for the records of history was combined with the evolutionary perspective, it often resulted in the search for and the imposition of patterns of development on history in general or on the history of particular subject matters such as economics, politics, morals, or religion. Social scientists looked to history for explanations, in the hope of finding inevitable laws, stages of development, or the forces that moved human society. As historians worked out a critical method for their …

Xvii. The Transformation Of Liberalism And Nationalism, 1871-1914, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XVII: The Transformation of Liberalism and Nationalism, 1871-1914

In the first half of the nineteenth century liberalism and nationalism were key concepts of the major political and economic movements within Western Civilization, As has been explained in the preceding chapter, by the end of the century new radical movements — socialism, syndicalism, and anarchism — had supplanted them on the extreme left of the political spectrum. By 1914 this new Left was a significant factor in many countries. However, it was still a minority movement and, for most people living in the Western World between 1871 and 1914, nationalism and liberalism were more important in determining the texture …

4. The Spread Of The Industrial Revolution, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XIV: The Industrial Revolution, Classical Economics, and Economic Liberalism

During much of the nineteenth century Great Britain strove with notable success to maintain her position as the world's leading industrial, commercial, and financial power. Her factories continued turning out textiles, machinery, and many other goods which were exported to all parts of the world. Her merchant marine continued to be the largest of any country. London was the financial capital of the world. Britain had adopted the gold standard in 1821; most western European nations and many others eventually followed her lead. The English pound was everywhere acceptable as international exchange. By 1850, when half of all Englishmen were …

9. The Holy Roman Empire: A Monarchial Failure, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section V: The Rise of Capitalism and the National State to 1500

Royal efforts to create national states and strong monarchies during the later Middle Ages succeeded in England, France, and Spain for different reasons and under different circumstances. In two of the great geographical subdivisions of central Europe the monarchs were not so successful. Eventual unification of Germany and Italy was delayed until the nineteenth century and may be explained by a number of factors, some beyond the control of individual kings and others based on weaknesses in the character of the monarchs themselves.

The political destinies of Germany and Italy became inextricably interwoven with the creation of the Holy Roman …