ABSTRACT
Most world historians use the concept of civilization, as noted in the last chapter, but many are uncomfortable with it. In contrast, the Western civ tradition, launched by scholars such as Robinson, tended to rest on assumptions that civilization had obvious meaning, as it contrasted with other, clearly inferior, types of human existence. Clearly, in order to deal with Western civilization sensibly, in a contemporary context, we need to spend a moment on the noun, before we turn to the adjective.
