Western culture: Difference between revisions

Western culture continued to develop with the Christianization of European society during the Middle Ages, the reforms triggered by the [[medieval renaissances]], the [[Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe|influence of the Islamic world]] via [[Al-Andalus]] and [[Emirate of Sicily|Sicily]] (including the transfer of technology from the East, and [[Latin translations of the 12th century|Latin translations]] of [[Science in the medieval Islamic world|Arabic texts on science]] and [[Early Islamic philosophy|philosophy]] by Greek and Hellenic-influenced Islamic philosophers),<ref name="Haskins"/><ref name="Sarton"/><ref name="Burnett"/> and the [[Italian Renaissance]] as [[Greek scholars in the Renaissance|Greek scholars]] fleeing after the [[fall of Constantinople]] brought classical traditions and philosophy.<ref name="Geanakoplos 1989">{{Cite book|last=Geanakoplos|first=Deno John|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19353503|title=Constantinople and the West : essays on the late Byzantine (Palaeologan) and Italian Renaissances and the Byzantine and Roman churches|date=1989|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=0-299-11880-0|location=Madison, Wis.|oclc=19353503}}</ref> This major change for non-Western countries and their people saw a development in modernization in those countries.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Western Civilization: Roots, History and Culture|url=https://www.timemaps.com/civilizations/western-civilization/|access-date=17 February 2022|website=TimeMaps|language=en-US}}</ref> [[History of Christianity during the Middle Ages|Medieval Christianity]] is credited with creating the modern university,<ref name="Rüegg, Walter 1992">Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in: ''A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-36105-2}}, pp. xix–xx</ref><ref name="harnvb|Verger|1999">{{harnvb|Verger|1999}}</ref> the modern hospital system,<ref name="Risse 59">{{cite book |title=Mending Bodies, Saving Souls: A History of Hospitals |url=https://archive.org/details/mendingbodiessav00riss |url-access=limited |last=Risse |first=Guenter B. |date=April 1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/mendingbodiessav00riss/page/n79 59] |isbn=978-0-19-505523-8}}</ref> scientific economics,<ref name="Schumpeter 1954">{{cite book |title=History of Economic Analysis |last=Schumpeter |first=Joseph |year=1954 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=London}}</ref><ref name="National Review Book Service">{{cite web |title=Review of ''How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization'' by Thomas Woods, Jr. |url=http://www.nrbookservice.com/products/bookpage.asp?prod_cd=c6664 |work=National Review Book Service |access-date=16 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822150152/http://www.nrbookservice.com/products/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c6664 |archive-date=22 August 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[natural law]] (which would later influence the creation of [[international law]]).<ref>Cf. [[Jeremy Waldron]] (2002), ''God, Locke, and Equality: Christian Foundations in Locke's Political Thought'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK), {{ISBN|978-0-521-89057-1}}, pp. 189, 208</ref> Christianity played a role in ending practices common among European [[pagan]]s at the time, such as [[human sacrifice]] and [[infanticide]].<ref name="Hastings, p. 309">Hastings, p. 309.</ref> European culture developed with a complex range of philosophy, medieval scholasticism, mysticism and Christian and secular humanism.<ref>Sailen Debnath, 2010, "Secularism: Western and Indian", New Delhi, India:Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, {{ISBN|8126913665}}.{{page needed|date=February 2015}}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2015}} Rational thinking developed through a long age of change and formation, with the [[empiricism|experiments]] of the Enlightenment and breakthroughs in the [[sciences]]. Tendencies that have come to define modern Western societies include the concept of [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|political pluralism]], [[individualism]], prominent [[subcultures]] or [[counterculture]]s (such as [[New Age]] movements) and increasing cultural [[syncretism]] resulting from [[globalization]] and [[Immigration to the Western world|human migration]].