ABSTRACT
When those who think themselves the pinnacle of civilisation meet outsiders who are not simply barbarians, another mental breakthrough happens. Mediaeval encounters among civilisations brought this challenge to the fore, as in the Mediterranean crusades between Christendom and Islam and the voyages of Zheng He around the Indian Ocean. These instances of exposure to virtuous outsiders led in uneven ways to a mental breakthrough in which civilisation could no longer be considered unipolar.
