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"The Western world was never that intellectual to begin with." Can you elaborate on that please? What time period are you referring to? Which civilizations wer
by omonra 14y ago
"The Western world was never that intellectual to begin with."
Can you elaborate on that please? What time period are you referring to? Which civilizations were more intellectual in your view and how do you quantify it?
- coldtea 14y agoCertainly. I find the ancient civilisations, and especially Greece, to be more intellectual, in that the very idea of society, laws, progress etc is under scrutiny and question in a self-reflective way. But even Europe itself was far more intellectual until around the early 20th century. E.g Compare the top social discourse of early 20th century Vienna or 19th century Paris with today's NYT best-seller list or political pundits. Or compare ancient greek tragedy (which was at the time mass entertainment) to present day mass entertainment (that would be, blockbuster movies at worst and something like Black Swan or Godfather at its best). From that time on, the emergence of a mass culture (which killed a less extensive but higher quality upper-middle class culture), the prevalence of market values and the blind respect of "experts" (and "progress" as a non-testable goal in itself) killed the intellectual traits I describe above.
- omonra 14y agoYes, I mostly agree with you here. You meant 'contemporary' western civilization - hence my confusion.