The West and the Others

This book is designed to explicate the Western civilization, specifically with respect to its genesis and indeed continuous genesis that cannot be relaxed or relegated to the past. As the argument for the West unfolds, there will be numerous texts and authors mentioned taken to be most relevant for understanding this significant civilization. I shall not belittle the reader by quotations from texts that assume a "school model" of presentation of basic subject matters. Rather, at the end of each chapter, a list of suggested readings will be made available for those who are interested in the continuous unfolding of the Western drama in various contexts, confrontations and reclaiming of what is the continuous self-creation of the West. Moreover, the work is based not so much on selected statements but on basic arguments that disclose principles whose denial would lead to contradictions and nonsense. We shall not spare the critical glance toward the West for what it was and is, but also we shall not bow before the critics of Western civilization who enjoy its privileges unavailable in their own civilizations.