Civilization

3. Define the term civilization. Discuss and evaluate the different approaches of your textbook and the lectures to this issue. Support your discussion with specific examples from the early histories of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. • Civilization: Civilization is the state of condition of persons living and functioning together, jointly, cooperatively so that they produce and experience the benefits of so living and functioning jointly and cooperatively. The word "civilization" derives from the Latin adjective “Civilis”. It implies a society involving cities, and cities involve people living and acting together, jointly, cooperatively, interactively. o A judgment that has been made from the beginning of time and still exists today is that residents of cities generally viewed themselves as more advanced and sophisticated than rural folk. • From the Book: o Civilizations have:  Cities  Laws that govern human relationships  Code of manners and social conduct that regulated how people were to behave.  Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological ideas that explained the larger world o Only societies that used writing were judged to be civilizations, because writing allowed norms, laws, ideas, and traditions to be more complex. o