ABSTRACT
It is a curious fact that if you ask a cultivated Western European and a well-informed Asian to characterize Western civilization you will get replies which have almost nothing in common. A Western man is considered by his colleagues to be a worthy representative of European culture if he knows Greek and Latin literature, the philosophy of Plato, and the influence which Christianity is supposed to have had upon Western life. He should also know something of Western literature since Dante and should be well informed about Western painting and music and architecture. If he has these qualifications he will pass muster in any Western academic society and will run no risk of being thought an ignoramus.
