ABSTRACT
The horrors of the past century, as much a product of Western nations, hardly serve to advance any appreciation for the virtues of Western civilisation. In conclusion, return to the title of this chapter: the West's search to realise a universal human community, to achieve a common humanity that is, a moral community beyond the simply biological uniformity of the human species. Globalisation begins thus not back 5,000 years ago, nor following World War II, but in the period 1500 to 1625 as a product of the Renaissance, both intellectually and technologically. We begin in 300 BCE, Before the Common Era, following Alexander the Great's overrunning of the Persian Empire and the establishment of the Greek presence in western Asia up to the Indus River. In keeping with the universalising thrust, this unique medieval Catholic construction in the law did not limit itself to members of the club, the medieval Catholic Church, but extended its claims to all peoples.
