What is "The West"

Summary

This video explores the complex and evolving concept of 'The West,' tracing its origins from Ancient Greece to modern-day geopolitics. It examines how Western Civilization, rooted in Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions, shaped the values of democracy, science, and law. The video delves into the historical divisions between the West and East, the role of Christianity, and the influence of the Enlightenment and imperialism. It also critiques the vagueness of the term 'The West' today, highlighting its use as a cultural and political construct while questioning its relevance in a globalized world.

Takeaways

• 🏛️ The concept of 'The West' is rooted in ancient Greece, which provided foundational values like democracy and philosophy.
• 🏛️ Rome expanded upon Greek ideals, creating legal systems and governance structures that shaped Western civilization.
• ✝️ Christianity became a unifying force for the West after the fall of the Roman Empire, influencing its cultural identity.
• 🌍 The fall of Constantinople in 1453 sparked a Renaissance in Europe, reviving Western culture and knowledge.
• 🗺️ European colonization of the Americas expanded the definition of 'The West' beyond geographic boundaries.
• 📜 The Enlightenment led to the development of the nation-state concept, often imposing Western ideals on non-Western cultures.
• 🌐 The Cold War created a binary perspective of global politics, framing conflicts in terms of East versus West.
• 💡 'The West' is often defined by economic development, democratic governance, and cultural roots in Europe.
• 🇱🇺 The inclusion of regions like Latin America challenges traditional definitions of 'The West,' as they share Western influences.
• ⚖️ Criticisms of the term 'The West' highlight its vagueness and reliance on defining itself against an 'Other,' reinforcing stereotypes.

Q & A

What does the term 'The West' generally refer to?

'The West' typically refers to countries characterized by democratic governments, free markets, and cultural roots in European or Greco-Roman traditions.

How did ancient Greece contribute to the foundation of Western Civilization?

Ancient Greece introduced key concepts such as citizenship, governance participation, and foundational disciplines like science and philosophy, which significantly shaped Western values.

What was the role of Rome in the development of Western identity?

Rome established legal frameworks, language foundations, and governance structures that became integral to Western societies, particularly through its law code and later, the Catholic Church.

What was the Great Schism, and why is it important in Western history?

The Great Schism of 1054 marked the split between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, which was crucial in defining Western Christian identity and cultural divisions.

How did the Renaissance influence Western Civilization?

The Renaissance revived classical knowledge and art, incorporating insights from Byzantine and Islamic scholars, which reinvigorated Western culture and contributed to its sense of superiority during the age of exploration.

What is 'Orientalism' and how does it relate to Western self-identity?

'Orientalism' is a concept that describes the Western portrayal of the East as irrational and weak, contrasting with the West's self-image as rational and strong, thereby influencing cultural narratives.

What impact did the Cold War have on the concept of 'The West'?

The Cold War solidified the identity of 'The West' by framing it in opposition to communism, creating a clear ideological divide between capitalist Western nations and their Eastern counterparts.

Why is Latin America often excluded from discussions about 'The West'?

Despite its strong ties to Western Civilization through European colonization, Latin America is frequently overlooked due to its cultural differences and the prevailing notion that 'The West' primarily includes North America and Europe.

What criticisms are associated with the term 'The West'?

Critics argue that 'The West' is a vague construct that implies confrontation and oversimplifies complex cultural relationships, often defined by what it is not, rather than by its own unique characteristics.

How does the speaker suggest we think about 'The West' today?

The speaker encourages critical reflection on what 'The West' truly means in contemporary discussions, recognizing the interconnectedness of cultures and the need for nuanced understanding.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Understanding Western Civilization

The transcript discusses the concept of 'The West' and Western Civilization, tracing its historical roots over 5000 years. It begins with Ancient Greece, highlighting the contributions of figures like Homer, Socrates, and Hippocrates to Western values such as citizenship and democracy. The narrative continues with the influence of Rome, which established foundational legal and governmental systems. The text explores the cultural divide initiated during the Persian Wars, leading to the development of a Western identity that distinguished itself from the East. It also touches on the Great Schism, the impact of Christianity, and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. The Renaissance marks a rebirth of Western culture, influenced by various civilizations, as Europeans began to explore and colonize the New World. The discussion emphasizes how the term 'The West' has evolved, particularly in the context of post-World War II and the Cold War. Finally, it critiques the vagueness of 'The West,' suggesting that it often implies confrontation and relies on cultural contrasts that no longer hold true in today's interconnected world.

Keywords

💡Western Civilization

Western Civilization refers to the cultural, political, and social norms that have developed in Europe and its descendants over the past several millennia. The video argues that this term is historically rooted in Greek and Roman traditions, evolving through Christianity, the Renaissance, and Enlightenment ideas. For example, it highlights how the Renaissance brought back knowledge from antiquity, which was essential for the development of modern Western culture.

💡Greeks

The Greeks are considered the foundational society of Western Civilization, contributing significantly to ideas about democracy, philosophy, and the arts. The video illustrates that thinkers like Homer and Socrates shaped Western literature and thought, establishing concepts of citizenship and governance. The Greeks' influence set the stage for subsequent civilizations, marking the beginning of the East-West cultural divide, particularly during the Persian Wars.

💡Rome

Rome played a pivotal role in shaping Western Civilization through its legal, political, and linguistic contributions. The video discusses how Roman law became the basis for most European legal systems and how the Roman Empire's expansion helped unify diverse cultures under a common identity. After the fall of Rome, its legacy continued through the Catholic Church, which further defined Western identity.

💡Christianity

Christianity is portrayed as a unifying force for Western Civilization, particularly after the decline of the Roman Empire. The video emphasizes how it provided moral and social structure, influencing European culture and politics. The establishment of Constantinople as a center of Christian power illustrates how the faith helped shape a distinct Western identity, particularly in opposition to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

💡The Great Schism

The Great Schism refers to the split between the Catholic Church in the West and the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1054. This division is significant in the video as it represents a crucial moment in defining Western identity separate from Eastern influences. The Schism contributed to the formation of distinct religious and cultural identities that have shaped geopolitical dynamics ever since.

💡Renaissance

The Renaissance marks a period of revival in art, culture, and intellect in Europe, often viewed as the rebirth of Western Civilization after the Middle Ages. The video highlights how scholars retrieved and preserved Greek, Roman, and Islamic knowledge, leading to significant advancements in various fields. This cultural flourishing coincided with European exploration and colonization, expanding the reach of Western influence globally.

💡Colonialism

Colonialism is the practice of acquiring control over another country, leading to the exploitation of its resources and people. The video points out that European nations, emboldened by their cultural confidence post-Renaissance, began to colonize the New World. This expansion complicated the definition of 'The West,' as Western culture spread to various parts of the world, often at the expense of local traditions.

💡Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism of traditional authority, significantly shaping modern Western thought. The video connects this period to the development of the nation-state and the spread of Western ideals, which were often imposed on other cultures. This era also led to the idea of Orientalism, where the East was depicted as the irrational counterpart to the rational West.

💡Orientalism

Orientalism is a term used to describe the way Western cultures portray Eastern societies as exotic and inferior, reinforcing stereotypes that justify colonial dominance. The video discusses how this concept arose during the Enlightenment and illustrates the West's self-image as strong and rational, contrasting with a feminized, weak East. This portrayal played a significant role in shaping perceptions of identity and cultural superiority.

💡Cultural Identity

Cultural identity refers to the shared beliefs, practices, and values that define a group, particularly in the context of Western Civilization. The video addresses how 'The West' has struggled with its identity over time, especially after the Cold War, leading to ambiguity in its definition. It suggests that understanding cultural identity is crucial for engaging with contemporary issues, as societies increasingly mix and influence each other.

Highlights

The concept of 'The West' is frequently discussed in terms of values, interests, and media representation.

Western Civilisation is often traced back to Ancient Greece, credited with foundational values like citizen participation and the disciplines of science and philosophy.

Key figures such as Homer, Socrates, and Hippocrates are identified as titans in Western literature, philosophy, and medicine.

The Greeks' identity and contributions significantly shaped Western ideals, despite the cultural differences between ancient and modern perspectives.

The origins of the East-West division began with the Persian Wars, establishing a dichotomy between the liberty-loving West and the despotic East.

Rome's influence provided Western Civilisation with foundations in governance, language, and law, impacting legal systems across Europe.

Christianity became a unifying force in the West after the fall of Rome, with the establishment of Constantinople marking a significant cultural divide.

The Great Schism of 1054 separated the Catholic Church from the Eastern Orthodox Church, further solidifying Western identity.

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 led to the Renaissance, as scholars re-imported Greek, Roman, and Islamic knowledge back to Europe.

European colonisation in the New World stemmed from a sense of cultural superiority, complicating the definition of 'The West.'

The Enlightenment era brought about the concept of the nation-state and further established Western ideologies.

Orientalism emerged during this period, depicting the East negatively in contrast to the rational and strong self-image of the West.

Post-World War II, the concept of 'The West' became solidified amidst the Cold War, creating a clear dichotomy between East and West.

The term 'The West' has become increasingly vague and problematic in defining cultural and geopolitical identities.

Latin America, though influenced by Western Civilisation, is often excluded from discussions of 'The West,' despite its democratic institutions.

Criticism of the term 'The West' includes its implications of confrontation and the historical justification for colonialism.

The blending of cultures challenges the notion of a distinct 'West' and emphasizes interdependence in the global landscape.

The term 'Western Civilisation' attempts to frame a cultural narrative, but 'The West' remains a nebulous concept in contemporary discussions.

Transcripts

We hear about “Western Involvement”, “Western Values”, and “Western Interests” in

the media.

People say that the West is the best, or that the West is in decline.

Some country is either Westernising or hates the West's way of life.

The West is the countries with democracies and free markets right?

Or countries that are part of Western Civilisation?

Then what about Latin America, are they Western?

What does “The West” even mean and what exactly is Western Civilisation.

Let’s find out

-ROLL INTRO-

To understand what Western Civilisation is, we’ll have to look at it’s 5000 history.

Which I am going to try and summarise in a few minutes.

I’ll start with the Greeks, who are considered the traditional founders of Western Civilisation

and the people that gave “The West” a lot of it’s central values such as citizen

participation in government, the disciplines of science, philosophy, and history, and the

basis for Western architecture.

The Greeks or at least each Greek city state had an identity based on these ideas.

Except Sparta whose identity was based on death and sweet abs.

People such as Homer, Socrates, and Hippocrates are all titans in the fields of Western literature,

philosophy, and medicine.

They essentially kick started it.

Now don’t get me wrong, an ancient Greek would be considered alien today if we met

one.

But the idea that Western Civilisation descends from the Greeks is as important an idea to

“The West” as an actual direct link.

Obviously modern Western Civilisation isn’t the same as ancient Greek culture, later Westerners

chose what they wanted to adopt and what to abandon.

No one in the modern West is sacrificing goats to the gods or taking slaves just because

the Greeks did it.

The origins of the east-west division has roots in Ancient Greece, specifically in the

Persian Wars.

It is this conflict that we see the beginning of the liberty loving masculine West v despotic,

decadent, and feminine East trope.

A trope that we still see on-screen today.

One of the most important things Greece did for “the West” was influenced Rome.

Rome gave the future West the foundations for its governments, languages, and law.

The Roman law code was the basis for the legal systems of most of Europe and its colonies

up until the 18th and 19th centuries.

Rome provided the later West with an identity firstly through its Empire and then through

it’s Church.

Christianity held “the West” together after Rome faded and would mold it’s identity

up until the 19th century.

Christianity became the religion of Rome after the Emperor Constantine adopted it.

But just as importantly in the history of the West is something else Constantine did.

And that was establishing the city of Constantinople.

You see, the Roman empire had a cultural divide.

The West spoke Latin and the East spoke Greek.

So, the Romans began thinking with a Latins v Greeks mindset.

The Latins saw the Greeks as more effeminate and decadent compared to how manly and tough

they were, which added to the East v West idea.

Which is funny because the ancient Greeks thought the same in relation to themselves

to the Persians.

The Roman Empire eventually divided along these lines.

The Western half faded away during the 5th century and the Eastern or Byzantine half

lasted another 1000 years.

In 1054 the Western and Eastern Churches split from each other in an event known as the Great

Schism.

I won’t go into detail because the Great Schism will be a video itself.

But the important take away is that after 1054 the Catholic Church separated from the

Eastern Orthodox Church.

A pope sat in Rome and a Patriarch sat in Constantinople.

The Eastern Roman Empire would eventually spread Orthodox Christianity into the Levant,

the Balkans, and importantly they converted the Rus.

This schism in combination with the Islamic conquests that began 3 centuries previously

gave the West’s it’s own identity.

They were West Christendom.

They may not have liked each other but they knew that they hated the Eastern heathens

and Muslims even more.

Constantinople would fall to the Ottomans in 1453 and afterwards the Greek, Roman, and

Islamic knowledge that they had accumulated and preserved was brought back to Europe by

scholars and traders.

The Renaissance with all it’s fancy naked statues got into full swing.

The West began to re-import Western Civilisation, with all the additions the Byzantines, Muslims,

and others had made to it.

This rebirth of Western culture came along just before the discovery of the New World.

So the Europeans, now confident that their ideas and culture were superior began to colonise

the New World.

This is the beginning of the spread of “The West” and also the reason why the West is

such a hard term to quantify today.

By colonising and imposing their culture on other nations the West ended up in the Northern,

Southern, and Eastern parts of the world.

Which is confusing for a group the identifies as a position on the compass.

If you’d like to learn how the West managed to conquer so much then click that little

I in the top right corner to go to a great video by Grant Hurst.

During the Enlightenment the Western idea of the nation-state developed.

During this era European imperialism was brought to Africa and Asia.

As Westerners translated “Eastern” languages and interacted with the East more a kind of

“Orientalism” began depicting the East as an irrational, psychologically weak, and

feminized, Other, which was negatively contrasted the West’s idea of itself as rational, psychologically

strong, and masculine.

The nation-state concept was imposed on places where it didn’t make sense, resulting in

odd perfectly straight borders.

The enlightenment dulled the idea of West Christendom and birth the secular West.

This is when the West actually began calling itself the West and also using that term to

describe previous cultures, like the Greeks and Romans.

Skipping forward slightly.

After the 2nd world war the West lost its colonial power mostly.

The world entered the Cold War.

Which was an easy conflict to paint in the terms of East v West.

Communism v Capitalism.

The Western identity solidified during this period.

Who was Western and who wasn't, was clear.

But after the Cold War ended I think the term “The West” lost its solid meaning.

But it still continued to be used.

So what does “The West” mean today?

How do you define it?

Here are the usual Economic, Political, and Cultural definitions

Economically the West is usually developed countries with strong economies and high incomes.

Here it’s used interchangeably with First world.

Politically it’s countries with democratic governments and free citizens.

Here it’s used interchangeably with Free world

Culturally it’s countries with roots in Europe or the Greco-Roman-Judean tradition

and was built upon by the ideals of the Enlightenment.

Usually referred to as Western Civilisation.

But these definitions aren’t great for actually defining the West.

For example let’s look at Latin America.

Latin America much like the United States and Canada are inheritors of Western Civilisation

through their European colonisers.

Latin America however is rarely included when people speak about “The West”.

They speak Latin languages and while there are some Latin American countries such as

Bolivia, Paraguay, and Guatemala that have a much stronger native influence they are

still heavily influenced by the culture of their colonisers.

If you look at a Human Development Index map you can see that many Latin American states

are in the high to very-high range, especially Argentina and Chile and Uruguay.

Their political institutions and governments are based on the same principles as European

ones.

Democratic governments are the norm in Latin America and most rank just below the US and

Europe on the Democracy index.

Latin America is definitely a part of Western Civilisation and should be included in “The

West”.

You can try applying those 3 criteria to other nations too, like Japan, Turkey, and nations

that were previously behind the Iron Curtain.

And that brings me to my final point, criticisms of the term “The West”.

An issue with the term “The West”, other than its vagueness, Is that it implies confrontation.

West of where?

Different than where?

Edward Said claimed that “the West” was just a construct used by Europeans to justify

an opposition to the East, which could then justify colonialism.

“the West” usually defines itself by what it’s not.

It wasn’t the Persians.

It wasn’t the Greeks or Orthodox.

It wasn’t Islamic or Chinese or Indian.

It wasn’t Russian or Communist.

And now it’s not Islamic, again.

The notion of an Eastern other has played a central role in constructing a Western identity,

and helped to define the West as its contrasting image.

Which nowadays doesn’t make sense because cultures and societies are mixing and learning

from each other on an unprecedented scale.

The West and the East need each other as our economies and societies would collapse without

the other.

“Western Civilisation” as a term is just an attempt to record the history of a cultural

unit in a easily understandable and linear fashion.

But “The West” as a term is simply used to refer to a blurry area of the map in people’s

mind.

Which is why it is useful for the news or for politicians, it’s just vague enough

to appear to mean something.

So when you hear someone refer to the decline of “The West” or how a group of people

hate the West.

Think, “what are they referring to?

What West?

Is all of Europe, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand all in decline?

Have people stopped reading Plato?

Do these people that hate the West simply hate whoever they see as their enemy or do

they actually hate all of the places that might be in “the West”.

Even Liechtenstein.

Can you really hate Liechtenstein?”

The purpose of this video isn’t to demand that we begin using different terms for anything.

But it can be useful to know where certain terms came from and why they continue to be

used.

Kipling said that East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.

Except that they have and now both are different and better than before.

Thanks for watching.

This video was made in collaboration with Grant Hurst.

If you’d like to learn about how The West managed to colonise so much of the world then

check out his video.

The link is in the description.

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