In Search of Civilization: Remaking a Tarnished Idea

"A self-effacing, humane and unparanoid call to change our wealthy yet often barbaric world for the better." *

In this provocative cri de coeur, the philosopher John Armstrong rescues the idea of civilization from irrelevance and connects it to our search for individual happiness. "Civilization" once referred to a society's technological prowess, its political development, or its cultural achievement. In the modern era, however, the word became burdened by the legacy of colonialism and conn...