{"id":2478,"date":"2022-11-15T18:04:16","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T18:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/axsonjohnsonfoundation.org\/?post_type=seminar&p=2478"},"modified":"2022-11-25T10:31:41","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T10:31:41","slug":"2013-civilisation","status":"publish","type":"seminar","link":"https:\/\/axsonjohnsonfoundation.org\/sv\/seminarier\/2013-civilisation\/","title":{"rendered":"2013: Civilisation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n “What is civilisation? I don\u2019t know. I can\u2019t define it in abstract terms \u2013 yet. But I think I can recognise it when I see it…\u201d
\r\nSir Kenneth Clark\u2019s use of the term \u201ccivilisation\u201d in his series with the same name illustrates the ambiguity of the concept; it can therefore perhaps best be described as an Idealtypus similar to Max Weber\u2019s concept, in that its legitimacy can be determined only in terms of adequacy. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Civilisation has been described as a set of values of a people or society; it can indicate a level of economic development, and can also point to a certain level of intellectual and artistic excellence. Furthermore, it can denote a boastful ideal of sophisticated civility, distinguishing our own regular habits from those of our neighbours. The distinction between what is supposed to be civilised or not has often bordered upon the xenophobic, and has sometimes also very much been an expression of that: not only the ancient Greeks distinguished between themselves and other peoples that they saw as barbarians.<\/p>\n

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Another distinction of importance in more modern times is the notion that the German peoples are cultured whereas as French and Anglo-Saxons only display a superficial civilisation without depth; a notion that played a significant role in propaganda during the First World War.<\/p>\n

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But what are the roots of civilisation and how did particular civilisations emerge in the ancient world? What do we today have in common with early civilisations, and what values do we still uphold that have their origins in the ancient world?<\/p>\n

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What explains the rise and fall of civilisations, and how did the present Western ideals of civilisation emerge? In what way have the alleged values of past civilisations re-emerged as exemplary models in a new context? How true is the popular golden age stereotype \u201calready the Greeks\u201d? What is really unique about Greek culture and which cultures influenced what we recognise as Greek?<\/p>\n

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The supposed superiority of Western culture and its achievements was for a long time taken for granted. However, in the era of globalisation countries like India and China are already challenging Western dominance.<\/p>\n

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Rome conquered Greece, but it is said that Greek culture conquered Rome; will we see new civilisations emerge and dominate the world, or will the challengers instead in practice become Westernised as Western technology and capitalism triumphs? And will then \u201cGreek culture\u201d once again conquer \u201cRome\u201d?<\/p>\n

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In the final analysis: is it possible to sustain a civilisation without the use of aggression and the willingness to defend its values by means of war?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Medverkande<\/h3>\n\n
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\n John Armstrong: Civilisation as an Ideal <\/p>\n

\n Senior Adviser in the office of the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Melbourne, and Author, Australia <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Graeme Barker: Origins of Human Settlement <\/p>\n

\n Professor of Archaeology and Director at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n \u00d6rjan Berner: Implications of the Rise of China <\/p>\n

\n Ambassador, Sweden <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Philip Bobbitt: The Problem of American Power <\/p>\n

\n Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence and the Director of the Center for National Security at Columbia University, USA <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Peter Burke: Civilisation: A Historian\u2019s View <\/p>\n

\n Professor Emeritus of Cultural History, University of Cambridge, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Richard Buxton: Can Ancient Greece still Offer us Viable Models of Behaviour and Thought? <\/p>\n

\n Professor of Greek Language and Literature, University of Bristol, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Stephen Cave: Civilisation and the Promise of Immortality <\/p>\n

\n Philosopher, Author, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Christopher Coker: Civilisation and its Malcontents <\/p>\n

\n Professor of International Relations, LSE, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Harriet Crawford: Civilisation: An Example from Fourth Millennium Mesopotamia <\/p>\n

\n Honorary Visiting Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, and a Fellow of the McDonald Institute, Cambridge <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Rolf Ek\u00e9us: Civilisation and its Challenges <\/p>\n

\n Ambassador, former Ambassador to the USA, Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament and Director of United Nations Special Commission on Iraq, Sweden <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Karsten Fischer: Sublimation and its Discontents: On the Modern Semantics of Decadence <\/p>\n

\n Professor of Political Science, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Jack Fuller: Civilisation as the Good and Ambitious Use of Freedom <\/p>\n

\n Author, Australia <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Anthony Grafton: The Revival of Greek in Renaissance Europe: The Changing Contours of a Canon <\/p>\n

\n Henry Putnam University Professor of History, Princeton University, USA <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Jonathan Haslam: The Rise and Rise of China or the Rise and Fall of China? Implications for Western Policy <\/p>\n

\n Professor of the History of International Relations at Cambridge University, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Eva Hoffman: Freedom, Fragmentation, Conversation: The Good Life Today <\/p>\n

\n Author and Broadcaster, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Tom Holland: The Rise of Rise and Fall <\/p>\n

\n Historian, Author and Broadcaster, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Jonathan Israel: Civilisation Versus the \u201cState of Nature\u201d <\/p>\n

\n Professor of Modern History at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Robert Johnson: The Paradox of the Nature of War <\/p>\n

\n Director of the Changing Character of War (CCW) research programme at Oxford University, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Richard Miles: The End of (Roman) Civilisation and the Rise of Decline <\/p>\n

\n Senior Lecturer in Classics, University of Sydney, Australia <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Rana Mitter: The Rise of China, the Decline of the West and the New Nationalism <\/p>\n

\n Professor of History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Sheldon Pollock: Classicism: A Greek and Indian Comparison <\/p>\n

\n Professor of Sanskrit and South Asian Studies at Columbia University, USA <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n G\u00f6ran Rosenberg: What Makes the Values of Auschwitz Possible? <\/p>\n

\n Author and Journalist, Sweden <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Donald Sassoon: Trailblazers and Laggards in the Long 19th Century <\/p>\n

\n Professor Emeritus of History, Queen Mary College, University of London, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Nathan Shachar: Greeks and Jews: A Relationship Like No Other <\/p>\n

\n Journalist and Author, Sweden <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Richard Swartz: Are the Basic Values of Civilisation Challenged? <\/p>\n

\n Author and Journalist, Sweden <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n David J. Taylor: George Orwell and the Idea of Civilisation <\/p>\n

\n Author and Critic, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Ruut Veenhoven: Does Civilisation Add to the Value of Life? <\/p>\n

\n Professor Emeritus of Social Conditions for Human Happiness at Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n David Wengrow: Civilisation Before the State <\/p>\n

\n Professor of Comparative Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College, University of London, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Martin West: The Greeks\u2019 Concept of Civilisation <\/p>\n

\n Emeritus Fellow of All Souls, University of Oxford. A former Fellow and Praelector in Classics at University College, Oxford, UK <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Rita Wright: Comparing Civilisations: Frame\u00adworks for Understanding their Variability <\/p>\n

\n Anthropological Archaeologist and Professor of Anthropology at New York University, USA <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/section>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-2478","seminar","type-seminar","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n2013: Civilisation - Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for public benefit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/axsonjohnsonfoundation.org\/sv\/seminarier\/2013-civilisation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"sv_SE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2013: Civilisation - Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for public benefit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/axsonjohnsonfoundation.org\/sv\/seminarier\/2013-civilisation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for public benefit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-25T10:31:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/axsonjohnsonfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/big-placeholder-people-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1088\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/axsonjohnsonfoundation.org\\\/sv\\\/seminarier\\\/2013-civilisation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/axsonjohnsonfoundation.org\\\/sv\\\/seminarier\\\/2013-civilisation\\\/\",\"name\":\"2013: Civilisation - 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