Why the West?

Key Observations• Western Europe discovered the scientific

method and the connection between science and technology before many older societies.

• Japan independently developed many of the qualities required for success in science and technology.

• Many other cultures are rapidly acquiring science and technology.

Conclusions

• The West was first, not unique. • To explain the success of the West in science

and technology, we need to identify and focus on the cultural conditioning that was most distinctive to the West.

• Crucial attributes are likely also to show up in the cultural conditioning of Japan.

• These attributes can be learned; other cultures are doing just that.

Salient Features of Western Culture

• “Western Culture” is a Serial Culture • Goldilocks Syndrome: Not too Little, Not too

Much, but “Just Right” • Repeated Episodes of Hybridization and Synthesis• Loss and Recovery of Classical Civilization• Attitude Toward Change • Autonomy, Autonomy, Autonomy • Fragmentation • Pragmatic

“Western Culture” is a Serial CultureNot Bound to Any One Group in Space or

Time • We are not guaranteed leadership• Leadership can be (and has been) lost• Dangers to Us:– Extremist anti-intellectualism– Apathy and Complacency– Technology of Control– Status in unproductive pursuits

Goldilocks Syndrome

Not too Little, Not too Much, but “Just Right”• Isolation• Challenge and Threat• Fragmentation and Unification• Authority versus Individualism

Hybridization and Synthesis

• Judaeo-Christian Synthesis• Anglo-Viking-Norman Synthesis• Medieval Synthesis

Loss and Recovery of Classical Civilization

•Stimulus for Directed Change•Attainable Goal•Related: Loss and Recovery of East-West Contact

Attitude Toward Change

• Can be Desirable• Can be Controlled• Can be Initiated

Autonomy, Autonomy, Autonomy

• Emphasis on Time – Individuals have Agendas• Stimulus to Innovation – Can Effect Change

Fragmentation

No one group or institution had a total lock•Church vs. State•Fragmented states•Nobility vs. Towns

Pragmatism• Pragmatism a product of Pluralism?• Tendency to Prefer Results Above: – Ideology– Religion– Class Distinctions– Machismo

• Ideological Disputes Often Disguised as Practical Issues– Often decided by action rather than debate

Technology and the East

China• Why didn’t China lead the West?Japan• Why did Japan rival the West?

Technology and China

• Urban planning and administration• Grand Canal• Ming sailing vessels• Printing• Gunpowder• Petroleum wells

Technology and China

• Fairly general consensus by both Chinese and Western scholars

• Much of Western understanding shaped by writings of Joseph Needham

• Are we missing something?• Would like greater diversity of viewpoints

Common Features with EuropeFragmentation and Diversity• Linguistic and cultural diversity• Warring States PeriodsUnifying Factors• Writing system• Tradition of Classical Learning• Usually strong central government• “China” is a recognizable entity

Differences from Europe

Frequent clashes of rival fundamental ideas• Rome – Jews – Christians• Western – Eastern theology• Christianity – Islam• Dissident religious groups• Protestant ReformationNot Conspicuous in Chinese History

Salient Features of Chinese History and Culture

Emphasis on: • Stability• Good order• ModerationNo perceived need to change

the world

The Chinese Status Hierarchy

• Bureaucrats• Scholars• Farmers• Artisans• Merchants

Some key aspects of Japanese values

• Insularity • Deliberate and selective adaptation of

foreign influences • Emphasis on harmony, form, ritual,

ceremony • Bushido - code of feudal honor

Bushido• Westerners have a morbid fascination with the

ritual of seppuku ("hara-kiri" is considered vulgar by the Japanese)

• Reality check: A highly-trained (and expensive) caste of warriors will not last long if the losers kill themselves after every battle!

• Bushido was far more complex; it allowed for honorable surrender and even changing sides in a conflict.

Resonances between Japanese and Western values

• Most Westerners are struck by the differences between Japan and the West.

• Very few notice the similarities.

Insularity

• Lack of external invasion • Freedom to develop without interference • Isolationism • Ability to adapt foreign ideas • Freedom to select or reject external

influences

Cultural hybridization

• Japan - China • England - France • U.S. - immigrants

Acceptance of Christianity

• Missionaries found Japan to be by far the most receptive Asian country to Christianity

• Cult of Amida Buddhism may have preconditioned Japanese to some Christian concepts

• What is it about Christianity that appealed to the West and Japan?– Simplicity?– Theology = How it Works

Feudalism• Development of knightly code of conduct– Chivalry in Europe – Bushido in Japan

• Ability to recover from defeat or setback • Emphasis on self-direction • Possibly an outgrowth of knightly class,

which created an influential cadre of self-aware individuals who in theory, and sometimes even in fact, conformed their conduct to an internalized code of behavior.

Is the World Going Crazy?

Or

Back to Normal?

19th-Century Eurocentric Order• Fixed Borders• Clear definition of state• European-imposed political structures and

ruling groups• Rules of War– Combatant vs. Non-Combatant

Prisoners of War• Commanded by a person responsible for

his subordinates• Having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable

at a distance• Carrying arms openly• Conducting their operations in accordance

with the laws and customs of war– Law of Land Warfare, U.S. Army FM 27-10

• Carrying Arms Openly. This requirement is not satisfied by the carrying of weapons concealed about the person or if the individuals hide their weapons on the approach of the enemy.

• Compliance With Law of War. This condition is fulfilled if most of the members of the body observe the laws and customs of war…

• [Violations include] treachery, denial of quarters, maltreatment of prisoners of war, wounded, and dead, improper conduct toward flags of truce, pillage, and unnecessary violence and destruction.

• Members of the armed forces of a party to the conflict and members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces lose their right to be treated as prisoners of war whenever they deliberately conceal their status in order to pass behind the military lines of the enemy for the purpose of gathering military information or for the purpose of waging war by destruction of life or property. Putting on civilian clothes or the uniform of the enemy are examples of concealment of the status of a member of the armed forces.

• Persons, such as guerrillas and partisans, who take up arms and commit hostile acts without having complied with the conditions prescribed by the laws of war for recognition as belligerents (see GPW, art. 4; par. 61 herein), are, when captured by the injured party, not entitled to be treated as prisoners of war and may be tried and sentenced to execution or imprisonment.

End of Eurocentric OrderFailed States (Yugoslavia, Somalia, Congo)• No overall authority• Authority reverts to local level (Warlords)Simple definition of states lost• Various levels of autonomy• Various levels of legitimacyNew (Old) Rules of War• Non-state forces• Total War