INTRODUCTION

PLAN OF THE BOOK

I	INTRODUCTION
II	THE GENESES OF CIVILIZATIONS
III	THE GROWTHS OF CIVILIZATIONS
IV	THE BREAKDOWNS OF CIVILIZATIONS
V	THE DISINTEGRATIONS OF CIVILIZATIONS
VI	UNIVERSAL STATES
VII	UNIVERSAL CHURCHES
VIII	HEROIC AGES
IX	CONTACTS BETWEEN CIVILIZATIONS IN SPACE
X	CONTACTS BETWEEN CIVILIZATIONS IN TIME
XI	LAW AND FREEDOM IN HISTORY
XII	PROSPECTS OF THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION
XIII	THE INSPIRATIONS OF HISTORIANS
XIV	RECONSIDERATIONS

I INTRODUCTION


I. THE UNIT OF HISTORICAL STUDY

II. THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CIVILIZATIONS

III. THE COMPARABILITY OF CIVILIZATIONS

(1) Civilizations and Primitive Societies
(2) The Misconception of 'The Unity of Civilization'
(3) The Case for the Comparability of Civilizations
(4) History, Science and Fiction




II THE GENESES OF CIVILIZATIONS


IV. THE PROBLEM AND HOW NOT TO SOLVE IT

(1) The Problem Stated
(2) Race
(3) Environment

V. CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE

(1) The Mythological Clue
(2) The Myth Applied To The Problem


I. C I (b) Annex I Note by Professor H. A. R. Gibb


VI. THE VIRTUES OF ADVERSITY

VII. THE CHALLENGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

(1) The Stimulus of Hard Countries
(2) The Stimulus of New Ground
(3) The Stimulus of Blows
(4) The Stimulus of Pressures
(5) The Stimulus of Penalizations

VIII. THE GOLDEN MEAN

(1) Enough and Too Much
(2) Comparisons in Three Terms
(3) Two Abortive Civilizations
(4) The Impact of Islam on the Christendoms





III THE GROWTHS OF CIVILIZATIONS


IX. THE ARRESTED CIVILIZATIONS

(1) Polynesians, Eskimos and Nomads
(2) The ‛Osmanlis
(3) The Spartans
(4) General Characteristics
Note: The Sea and Steppe as language conductors

X. THE NATURE OF THE GROWTHS

(1) Two False Trails
(2) Progress towards Self-determination

XI. AN ANALYSIS OF GROWTH

(a) The Relation between Growing Civilizations and Individuals

(b) The Interaction between Individuals in Growing Societies

The Movement of Withdrawal-and-Return

Muhammad

Ibn Khaldūn

Confucius

Penalized Minorities

England in the Third Chapter of the Growth of the Western Society

What is to be Russia's Role in our Western History?

The Working of Withdrawal-and-Return in the Histories of Civilizations


XI. DIFFERENTIATION THROUGH GROWTH

C Annex II: The Political Career of Muhammad




IV. THE BREAKDOWNS OF CIVILIZATIONS


B. THE NATURE OF THE BREAKDOWNS OF CIVILIZATIONS

I. DETERMINISTIC SOLUTIONS

II. LOSS OF COMMAND OVER THE ENVIRONMENT

(a) The Physical Environment
(b) The Human Environment
(3) A Negative Verdict

XVI. FAILURE OF SELF-DETERMINATION

(a) The Mechanicalness of Mimesis
(2) New Wine in Old Bottles
2. The Impact of Industrialism upon Slavery
10. The Impact of the Solonian Economic Revolution upon the International Politics of the Hellenic World
(3) The Nemesis of Creativity: Idolization of an Ephemeral Institution
(4) The Nemesis of Creativity: (γ) The Idolization of an Ephemeral Technique
(5) The Suicidalness of Militarism
(6) The Intoxication of Victory




V THE DISINTEGRATIONS OF CIVILIZATIONS


B. THE NATURE OF THE DISINTEGRATIONS OF CIVILIZATIONS
(a) A General Survey
(b) The Movement of Schism-and-Palingenesia
(c) Schism in the Body Social

(1) Dominant Minorities
(2) Internal Proletariats
The Russian and Arabic Internal Proletariat
The Symptoms in the Western World
(3) External Proletariats
Vestiges and Rudiments in the Western World
(4) Alien and Indigenous Inspirations

( d ) SCHISM IN THE SOUL

(1) Alternative Ways of Behavior, Feeling and Life
(2) 'Abandon' and Self-Control
(3) Truancy and Martyrdom
(4) The Sense of Drift
(5) The Sense of Sin
(6) The Sense of Promiscuity
(α) Pammixia and Proletarianization
The Receptivity of Empire-Builder
The Vulgarization of the Dominant Minority
The Barbarization of the Dominant Minority
a. Vulgarity and Barbarism in Manners
(β) Vulgarity and Barbarism in Art
(γ) Lingue Franche
(δ) Syncretism in Religion

V. C. I (c) 1 Annex: Roman Policy towards Primitive Peoples

2 Annex I: The Role of Manichaeism in the Encounter between
the Syriac Internal Proletariat and Hellenism

C (i) (c) 2 Annex II: Marxism, Socialism, and Christianity

Annex III: The Ambiguity of Gentleness

3 Annex I: The Rhine-Danube Frontier of the Roman Empire
Annex II: The Volkerwanderung: of the Aryas and the Sanskrit Epic
Annex III: Historical Fact and 'Heroic’ Tradition

( d )4 Annex: Fatalism an a Spiritual Tonic615

6 (γ) Annex I: The Napoleonic Empire as a Universal State
Annex II: Edward Gibbon’s Choice of Linguistic Vehicle

(δ) Annex: Cujus Regio, Ejus Religio?


VOLUME VI

V. THE DISINTEGRATIONS OF CIVILIZATIONS (cont.)

C. THE PROCESS OF THE DISINTEGRATIONS OF CIVILIZATIONS (cont.).....1

I. THE CRITERION OF DISINTEGRATION (cont.)....1

(d) Schism in the Soul (cont.)....1

7. The Sense of Unity.....1

8. Archaism ... 48

(α) Archaism in Institutions and Ideas... 49

(β) Archaism in Art .... 50

(γ) Archaism in Language and Literature. .. 62

(δ) Archaism in Religion. . .83

(ε) The Self-Defeat of Archaism....94

9. Futurism ... 97

(α) The Relation between Futurism and Archaism. . . 97

(β) The Breach with the Present. .. 101

The Breach in Manners . ..101

The Breach in Institutions . . . .107

The Breach in Secular Culture and in Religion ... 111

(γ) The Self-Transcendence of Futurism. .. 118

10. Detachment . ..132

11. Transfiguration ... 149

(e) Palingenesia ...... l69

II. AN ANALYSIS OF DISINTEGRATION . . . I75

(a) Relation between Disintegrating Civilizations and Individuals... 175

The Creative Genius as a Saviour . ..175

The Saviour with the Sword ... 178

The Saviour with the'Time-Machine'... 213

The Philosopher masked by a King ... 242

The God Incarnate in a Man ... 259

(b) The Interaction between Individuals in Disintegrating Civilizations...278

The Rhythm of Disintegration ..... 278

The Rhythm in Hellenic History ..... 387

The Rhythm in Sinic History ...291

The Rhythm in Sumeric History ..... 296

The Rhythm in the History of the Main Body of Orthodox Christendom ........ 298

The Rhythm in Hindu History ..... 300

The Rhythm in Syriac History ...301

The Rhythm in the History of the Far Eastern Civilization in Japan ...303

The Rhythm in the History of the Main Body of the Far Eastern Civilization ...305

The Rhythm in Babylonic History .... 308

The Rhythm in the History of Orthodox Christendom in Russia ... 308

Vestiges in Minoan History ...312

Symptoms in Western History ...312

III. STANDARDIZATION THROUGH DISINTEGRATION . .. 321

Table I: Universal States ..... 327

Table II: Philosophies ...... 328

Table III: Higher Religions ..... 329

Table IV: Barbarian War-Bands ..... 330

V. C I (d) 7 Annex: The Hellenic Conception of the ‘Cosmopolis’...332

9 (β) Annex: New Eras ..... 339

II Annex I: Aristophanes' Fantasy of 'Cloudcuckooland’ .. . 346

Annex II: Saint Augustine's Conception of the Relations
between the Mundane and the Supra-Mundane Commonwealth...365

II (a) Annex I: The Hellenic Portrait of the Saviour with the Sword...370

Annex II: Christus Patiens ...376

The Problem ..... 376

Correspondences between the Story of Jesus and
the Stories of certain Hellenic Saviours with the 'Time-Machine’ .... 377

A Synopsis of Results .... 406

Table I: Concordance of the Literary Authorities ... 407

Table II: Analysis of Correspondences between
the Gospels and the Stories of Pagan Heroes .... 409

Table III: Analysis of Correspondences between the
Stories of the Spartan Archaists and those of the Other Heroes .. . 409

Table IV: Common Characters . . .410

Table V: Common Scenes . . .411

Table VI: Analysis of Visual Correspondences
between the Gospels and the Stories of Pagan Heroes . . .412

Table VII: Common Properties . . . 413

Table VIII: Common Words . . . 414

Table IX: Analysis of Verbal Correspondences
between the Gospels and the Stories of Pagan Heroes . . .417

Alternative Possible Explanations . . . 418

Dichtung und Wahrheit . . . 438

The Legend of Hêraklês . . . 465

Table X: Concordance of Correspondences between the Legend
of Hêraklês and the Stories of Jesus and the Pagan Historical Heroes...476

The Ritual Murder of an Incarnate God .... 476

(α) 'The Ride of the Beardless One' .... 481

(β)'The Reign of the Mock King' . .. .481

The Life and Death of Socrates .. . . 486

An Egyptian Bridge between Laconia and Galilee... 496

A Verbal Means of Conveyance . . .500

A Visual Means of Conveyance . . . 508

The Economy of Truth . . . 534

INDEX TO VOLUMES IV-VI ....54I

VI UNIVERSAL STATES


B. ENDS OR MEANS?

I. THE MIRAGE OF IMMORTALITY

XXV. SIC VOS NON VOBIS

(1) The Conductivity of Universal States
(2) The Psychology of Peace
(3) The Serviceability of Imperial Institutions
Communication
Garrisons and Colonies
Provinces
Capital Cities
Official Languages and Scripts
Law
Calendars; Weights and Measures; Money
Standing Armies
Civil Services
Citizenships




VII. UNIVERSAL CHURCHES

A. ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF THE RELATION OF
UNIVERSAL CHURCHES TO CIVILIZATIONS

I. CHURCHES AS CANCERS
II. CHURCHES AS CHRYSALISES
III. CHURCHES AS A HIGHER SPECIES OF SOCIETY

(a) A REVISION OF OUR CLASSIFICATION OF SPECIES OF SOCIETY
(b) THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHURCHES’ PAST
(c) THE CONFLICT BETWEEN HEART AND HEAD

(d) The Promise of the Churches Future
5. The Promise of Exorcizing the Perilousness of Mimesis


B. THE ROLE OF CIVILIZATIONS IN THE LIVES OF CHURCHES

(1) Civilizations as Overtures
(2) Civilizations as Regressions

C. THE CHALLENGE OF MILITANCY ON EARTH

VIII. HEROIC AGES

A.A. GENESIS OF A LIMES

B. A SOCIAL BARRAGE

C. THE ACCUMULATION OF PRESSURE

‛The Wreckful Siege of Battering Days’

The Impracticality of a Policy of Non-Intercourse

The Barbarians Exploitation of their Civilized Neighbours' Weapons

The Barbarians Exploitation of their Native Terrain

The Besieged Civilization's Inability to Redress the Balance by Recourse of Organization and Technique

The Barbarian's Military Elusiveness and Economic Parasitism

The Self-Defeat of a Policy of Setting a Thief to Catch a Thief

D. THE CATACLYSM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

A Reversal of Roles

The Demoralization of the Barbarian Conquerors

The Bankruptcy of a Fallen Civilized Empire's Barbarian Successor-states

The Restraining Inluences of Aidôs, Nemesis, and Hilm.

The Outbreak of an Invincible Criminality

The Débacle of an Ephemeral Barbarian Ascendancy

E. DICHTUNG UND WAHRHEIT
I. A PHANTASY OF HEROISM
II. A GENUINE HUMBLE SERVICE

Note: 'The Monstrous Regiment of Women'

IX. CONTACTS BETWEEN CIVILIZATIONS IN SPACE (ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARIES)

A. AN EXPANSION OF THE FIELD OF STUDY

B. A SURVEY OF ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY CIVILIZATIONS

I. Plan of Operations

II. Operations According to Plan
(a) Encounters with the Modern Western Civilization
1. The Modern West and Russia
Russia's ‛Western Question’
Alternative Russian Responses to the Challenge of Western Technology

2. The Modern West and the Main Body of Orthodox Christendom
The Reception of a Modern Western Culture by the Ottoman Orthodox Christians and its Political Consequences

3. The Modern West and the Hindu World

4. The Modern West and the Islamic World
The Postponement of the Crisis
The Muslim Peoples Military Approach to the Western Question

5. The Modern West and the Jews
6 The Modern West and Far Eastern and Indigenous American Civilizations
7. Characteristics of the Encounters between the Modern West and its Contemporaries

(b) Encounters with Medieval Western Christendom
1. The Flow and Ebb of the Crusades
2. The Medieval West and the Syriac World
3. The Medieval West and Greek Orthodox Christendom
4. The Medieval West and Kievan Russia

(c) Encounters between Civilizations of the First Two Generations

1. Encounters with the Post-Alexandrine Hellenic Civilization
2. Encounters with the Pre-Alexandrine Hellenic Civilization
3. Encounters with the Syriac Civilization
4. Encounters with the Eygptiac Civilization in the Age of ‛the New Empire’
5. Tares and Wheat

C. THE DRAMA OF ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARIES (STRUCTURE, AND PLOT)

I. CONCATENATIONS OF ENCOUNTERS

II. ROLES, REACTIONS, AND DENOUMENTS

D. THE PROCESS OF RADIATION AND RECEPTION

E. THE CONSEQUENCES OF ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARIES

I. Aftermaths of Unsuccessful Assaults

II. Aftermaths of Successful Assaults

(a) Effects on the Body Social
(b) Responses of the Soul

1. Dehumanization

2. Zealotism and Herodianism

3. Evangelism

C. (I), Annex: ‘Asia’ and ‘Europe’: Facts and Fantasies

TABLE

Barabarian War-Bands

X. CONTACTS BETWEEN CIVILIZATIONS IN TIME

A. ‛THE RENAISSANCE’

B. A SURVEY OF RENAISSANCES

I. A PLAN OF OPERATIONS

II. OPERATIONS ACCORDING TO PLAN

(a) RENAISSANCES OF POLITICAL IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONS

(b) RENAISSANCES OF SYSTEMS OF LAW

(c) RENAISSANCES OF PHILOSOPHIES

(d) RENAISSANCES OF LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

(e) RENAISSANCES OF VISUAL ARTS

(f) RENAISSANCES OF RELIGIOUS IDEALS AND INSTITUTIONS

C. THE DRAMA OF RENAISSANCES

D. THE PROCESS OF EVOCATION

E. THE CONSEQUENCES OF NECROMANCY

I.THE TRANSFUSION OF PSYCHIC ENERGY

II. THE CHALLENGE FROM THE REVERENANT AND A PAIR OF ALTERNATIVE POSSIBLE RESPONSES

III. THE BLESSEDNESS OF IMMUNITY, MERCIFULNESS OF MORTLAITY, AND UNTOWARDNESS OF PRECOCITY

E. THE CONSEQUENCES OF NECROMANCY

IV. THE STERILITY OF THE BLACK ART





XI LAW AND FREEDOM IN HISTORY

A. THE PROBLEM

(II) DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

(III) THE ANTINOMIANIAM OF LATE MODERN WESTERN HISTORIANS
(a) THE REPUDIATION OF THE BELEIF IN A 'LAW OF GOD' BY LATE MODERN WESTERN MINDS

B. THE AMENABILITY OF HUMAN AFFAIRS TO ‘LAWS OF NATURE’

(1) A Survey of the Evidence

(a) The Private Affairs of Individuals
(b) The Industrial Affairs of Modern Western Societies
1. Struggles for Existence between Parochial States
The War-and-Peace Cycle in Modern and post-Modern Western History
(d) The Disintegrations of Civilizations
(e) The Growth of Civilizations
(f) ‘There is no armour against Fate’

(2) Possible Explanations of the Currency of ‘Laws of Nature’ in History
(3) Are Laws of Nature current in History inexorable or controllable?

XXXVII. THE RECALCITRANCE OF HUMAN NATURE TO LAWS OF NATURE

XXXIII. THE LAW OF GOD





XII. THE PROSPECTS OF THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION

XXXIX. THE NEED FOR THIS INQUIRY

XL. THE INCONCLUSIVENESS OF A Priori ANSWERS

XLI. THE TESTIMONIES OF THE HISTORIES OF THE CIVILIZATIONS

(1) Western Experiences with Non-Western Precedents
(2) Unprecedented Western Experiences

TECHNOLOGY, WAR AND GOVERNMENT
(I) THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

(II) THE SITUATION AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR
(a) A PROGRESSIVE CONCENTRATION OF POWER
The Significance of Hitler's Bid for World-Dominion
(III) ALTERNATIVE POSSIBLE APPROACHES TO WORLD ORDER

(IV) POSSIBLE CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF A FUTURE WORLD ORDER
(V) PROBABLE FUNCTIONS OF A FUTURE WORLD ORDER
E. TECHNOLOGY, CLASS-CONFLICT AND EMPLOYMENT
(1) THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE PROBLEM
(2) Mechanization and Private Enterprise
(3) Alternative Approaches and Social Harmony
(4) Possible Costs of Social Justice
(5) Living happy ever after?





XIII. THE INSPIRATIONS OF HISTORIANS

A. THE HISTORIAN'S ANGLE OF VISION

B. THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE FACTS OF HISTORY

C. THE IMPULSE TO INVESTIGATE THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE FACTS OF HISTORY

I. CRITICAL REACTIONS

II. CREATIVE RESPONSES
(a) MINUSCULA
(b) PAULLO MAIORA
1. Inspirations from Social Milieux
Clarendon, Procopius, Josephus, Thucydides, Rhodes
Polybius
Josephus and Ibn al-Tiqtaqā
‛Alā-ad-Dīn Juwaynī and Rashīd-ad-Dīn Hamadānī
Herodotus
Turgot
Ibn Khaldūn
Saint Augustine
A Twentieth-century Western Student of History





XIII CONCLUSION

XLIV. HOW THIS BOOK CAME TO BE WRITTEN





XIV RECONSIDERATIONS

I INTRODUCTION

B. THE FIELD OF HISTORICAL STUDY

III. THE EXTENSION OF OUR FIELD IN SPACE

I. THE UNIT OF HISTORICAL STUDY

Let us call this society, whose spatial limits we have been studying, Western Christendom; and, as soon as we bring our mental image of it into focus by finding a name for it, the images and names of its counterparts in the contemporary world come into focus side by side with it, especially if we keep our attention fixed upon the cultural plane. On this plane we can distinguish unmistakably the presence in the world to-day of at least four other living societies of the same species as ours:
(i) an Orthodox Christian Society in South-Eastern Europe and Russia;
(ii) an Islamic Society with its focus in the arid zone which stretches diagonally across North Africa and the Middle East from the Atlantic to the outer face of the Great Wall of China;
(iii) a Hindu Society in the tropical sub-continent of India;
(iv) a Far-Eastern Society in the sub-tropical and temperate regions between the arid zone and the Pacific.

On closer inspection we can also discern two sets of what may appear to be fossilized relics of similar societies now extinct, namely: one set including the Monophysite Christians of Armenia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Abyssinia and the Nestorian Christians of Kurdistan and ex-Nestorians in Malabar, as well as the Jews and the Parsees; and a second set including the Lamaistic Mahayanian Buddhists of Tibet and Mongolia and the Hinayanian Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma, Siam and Cambodia, as well as the Jains of India.

It is interesting to notice that when we turn back to the cross-section at 775 A.D. we find that the number and identity of the societies on the world map are nearly the same as at the present time. Substantially the world map of societies of this species has remained constant since the first emergence of our Western Society. In the struggle for existence the West has driven its contemporaries to the wall and entangled them in the meshes of its economic and political ascendancy, but it has not yet disarmed them of their distinctive cultures. Hard pressed though they are, they can still call their souls their own.

The conclusion of the argument, as fat as we have carried it at present, is that we should draw a sharp distinction between relations of two kinds: those between communities within the same society and those of different societies with one another.


IV. THE EXTENSION OF OUR FIELD IN TIME

{I.B.IV.p.40}...Why did Rome stretch her long arm towards the north-west and gather into her Empire the western corner of Transalpine Europe? Because she was drawn in that direction by her life-and-death struggle with Carthage. Why, having once crossed the Alps, did she stop at the Rhine and not push on to the better physical frontier of the Baltic, the Vistula, and the Dniestr? Because in the Augustan Age her vitality gave out after two centuries of exhausting wars and revolutions. Why did 'the barbarians' ultimately break through? Because, when a frontier between a more highly and a less highly civilized society ceases to advance at the more backward society's expense, the balance does not settle down into a stable equilibrium but declines, with the passage of time, in the more backward societies favour.¹ Why, when 'the barbarians' broke through the Roman frontier, did they encounter 'the Church' on the other side? Materially, because the economic and social revolutions following the Hannibalic War had brought multitudes of slaves from the Oriental World to work in the devastated areas of the West, and this forced migration of Oriental labour had been followed by the peaceful propagation of Oriental religions through 'the Graeco-Roman World'. ² Spiritually, because these religions, with their promise of an 'other-worldly' personal salvation, found,

¹ For an examination of this phenomenon see part VIII, below.
² For this, see further II. D (vi), vol. ii, p. 213-6, below.

{p.41} fallow fields to cultivate in the devastated souls of a 'dominant minority' which had failed, in this world, to save the fortunes of the 'Graeco-Roman' Society.¹

to the student of Hellenic history, both the Christians and the barbarians would present themselves as creatures of an alien underworld—the 'internal' and 'external' proletariat,³ as he might call them, of the Hellenic Society in its last phase.⁴ he would point out that the great masters of Hellenic culture, down to and including Marcus Aurelius, almost ignore their existence, and that in fact they did not begin to come into existence until after the Hannibabic War. He would diagnose both the Christian Church and the Barbarian war-bands as morbid affections which only appeared in the body of the Hellenic Society after its physique

³ The word 'proletariat' is used here and hereafter in this Study to mean any social element or group which in some way is 'in' but not 'of' any given society at any given stage of such society's history. That is, it is used in the scenes of the Latin word proletarius from which it is derived. In Roman legal terminology, proletarii were citizens who had no entry against their names in the census except their progeny (proles). The following definition is given in the Compendiosa Doctrina per Litteras of Nonius Marcellinus: 'Proletarii dicti sunt plebeii qui nihil rei publicae exhibeant sed tantum prolem sufficiant.' (Quoted by Bruns, C.C., in ,i) Fontes Iuris Romani Antiqui, ed. 7 (Tübingen 1909, Mohr), Pars Posterior, p. 65.) To say that 'proletarians' contribute nothing to the community but their progeny is a euphemism for saying that the community gives them no remuneration for any other contributions that they may make (whether voluntarily of under compulsion) to the common weal. In other words, a 'proletariat' is an element of group in a community which has no 'stake' in that community beyond the fact of its physical existence. It is in this broad sense that the word 'proletariat' is used throughout this Study, and not in the specialized sense of an urban labouring population which employs the modern Western economic technique called 'Industrialism' and is employed under the modern Western economic régime called 'Capitalism'. This restricted usage of the word, which is current to-day, was given currency by Karl Marx, as one of the technical terms which he coined in order to convey the results of his study of history. More than one of these Marxian coinages have become current even among people who reject Marxian dogmas.
⁴ For an examination of the phenomena of 'the internal proletariat' and 'the external proletariat', see the present part, Division C(i)(a), pp. 53-62, below, and also Parts IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII, passim, especially V.C.(i)(c) 2 and 3, vol. v, pp. 58-337.

{p.42} had been permanently undermined and its character enfeebled by that great disaster...

C. THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CIVILIZATIONS

I. A SURVEY OF SOCIETIES OF THE SPECIES

(A) PLAN OF OPERATIONS

Our researches have yielded us nineteen societies, most of them related as parent or offspring to one or more of the others: namely the Western, the Orthodox, the Iranic, the Arabic (these last two being now united in the Islamic), the Hindu, the Far-Eastern, the Hellenic, the Syriac, the Indic, the Sinic, the Minoan, the Sumeric, the Hittite, the Babylonic, the Eygptaic, the Andean, the Mexic, the Yucatec and the Mayan. We have expressed doubt as to the separate existence of the Babylonic apart from the Sumeric, and some of the other pairs might perhaps be regarded as single societies with an 'epilogue' on the Eygptaic analogy. But we will respect their individualities until we find good reason fro doing otherwise. Indeed it is probably desirable to divide the Orthodox Christian Society into an Orthodox-Byzantine and an orthodox-Russian Society. This would raise our numbers to twenty-one...


III. THE COMPARABILITY OF CIVILIZATIONS

(1) Civilizations and Primitive Societies
(2) The Misconception of 'The Unity of Civilization'

The second argument against the comparability of our twenty-one civilizations is the contrary to the first. It is that there are not twenty-one distinct representatives of such a species of society but only one civilization—our own.

This thesis of unity of civilization is a misconception into which modern Western historians have been led by the influence of their own social environment. The misleading feature is the fact that, in modern times, our own Western Civilization has cast the net of its economic system all round the World, and this economic unification on a Western basis has been followed by a political unification on the same basis which has gone almost as far; for though the conquests of Western armies and governments have been neither as extensive nor as thorough as the conquests of Western manufactures and technicians, it is nevertheless a fact that all the states of the contemporary world form a part of a single political system of Western origin.


(3) The Case for the Comparability of Civilizations
(4) History, Science and Fiction