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C00002 00002 %wester[w89,jmc] Proposals for a CIV track (World civilization and culture)
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%wester[w89,jmc] Proposals for a CIV track (World civilization and culture)
% wester[w88,jmc] The Superiority of Western Culture
% wester.2[w88,jmc] Western Technology and Western Culture
%
The Western civilization requirement at Stanford has been
replaced by a ``Cultures, Ideas and Values'' requirement, much to
the regret of people who regard the ideas of Western culture as
fundamental to our civilization. However, the system
provides for multiple tracks, and I suggest taking advantage of
this.
Some existing tracks more or less correspond to
the previous Western Culture and Civilization course. We propose
something rather different. We'll need a shorter title, but
I propose a track that might be entitled:
``How Western civilization became world civilization, how Western
technology became world technology and how Western culture became
world culture.''
It would cover the classic texts, especially those that
remain in the requirement, but would put considerable emphasis on
their influence beyond the West. To design and carry out such a
course would be a lot of work, and it's not clear that we
enthusiasts for Western culture are up to it.
Specifically, we would need to understand and add readings
from the people who carried ideas of Western culture throughout
the world. This includes both Westerners, missionaries, ambassadors
and other dogooders, and people from non-Western countries, e.g.
Sun Yat-Sen, Attaturk, Meiji era Japanese reformers, maybe
Sequoyah or other American Indian modernizers, and Indian modernizers
in India, maybe Juarez.
It might be appropriate to hold a seminar with interested
faculty for a year before undertaking a course. Maybe a grant
could be obtained to develop the course.