The concept of civilization emerged only in the modern era
Evidence
A few lexical and historical remarks are in order, as analyzing Hobbes’s texts through the lens of civilization may run into the same problems as analyses of notions of race and racism. Too often in political philosophy, the word ‘civilization’ is considered classic, ancient, or even timeless – as old as civilization itself. Yet the word ‘civilization’ is a recent invention; in Hobbes’s times, the noun did not exist, and the English verb ‘to civilize’ had just appeared. — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 37
Categorization
- DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘civilization’ as a term is recent, a useful corrective against treating it as timeless.
- XREF: Echoes the point that categories like race are also recent constructions, and connects to Norbert Elias’s The Civilizing Process on the French ‘civilisation’. — connects to: Civilization is a modern European construction that defines Europeans by excluding their barbarian others — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 33; Civilization in the singular coexisted historically with many civilizations — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 155; Western civilization has not escaped universal civilizational evolutionary patterns — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 831 (+5 more)
Related
- Civilization is a modern European construction that defines Europeans by excluding their barbarian others (similarity 0.88)
- Civilization in the singular coexisted historically with many civilizations (similarity 0.84)
- Modernity is best understood as the civilization produced by global capitalism (similarity 0.82)
- Modernization is distinct from Westernization and does not create a universal civilization (similarity 0.81)
- Western civilization has not escaped universal civilizational evolutionary patterns (similarity 0.81)
- A universal civilization would leave no term for civilizational sub-groups (similarity 0.80)
- Modernity should be defined as the civilization capitalism built. (similarity 0.80)
- Hobbes promoted civility before the word civilization existed (similarity 0.79)
- Modernity’s logic defines those outside Western norms as less than human (similarity 0.79)
- The word ‘civil’ shifted from civic to cultured behavior during the Renaissance (similarity 0.79)
- A major social science encyclopedia had no primary entry on civilization (similarity 0.79)
- Discourses of civilization and modernity relied on repressing the non-Western Other (similarity 0.79)
- Modern civilization idealizes itself while being constitutively built on incorporated violence (similarity 0.78)
- The adjective ‘civil’ once denoted whole societies, contrasted with the barbarous (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Civilization in the singular coexisted historically with many civilizations
#complicates(0.85) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 155 - Discourses of civilization and modernity relied on repressing the non-Western Other
#expands(0.80) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 484 - Modernization theory pathologized non-Western societies as internally deficient
#expands(0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 248 - Western civilization has not escaped universal civilizational evolutionary patterns
#qualifies(0.75) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 831 - Modernist temporality grew from uneven development rather than modernization itself
#qualifies(0.75) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 780 - Modernity and modernization concepts may be inadequate to explain modern experience
#expands(0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 146 - Race is a modern concept barely existing before the Enlightenment
#exemplifies(0.72)