User:Daanschr/ major turning points in the intellectual history of the western culture

This article reflects my own emphasis of the major turning points in the intellectual history of the western culture. Every moment was the start of a completely new period.


 * In the Dark Ages, central authorities had hardly anything to say on local affairs. An important institute in most parts of Europe was the feud. Feuds had certain rules which were aimed at reducing the amount of casualties in wars for the chang of leadership. Remnant of this period is the Italian mafia for instance.


 * 1099: Fall of Jerusalem. Symbol of the advance of the church. The roman catholic church tried to stop violence by focusing on the establishment of communities, local, national and international. Remnants of this period are communism and communalism.


 * 1453: Fall of Constantinople. Symbol of the fragility of civilization. The rise of commerce resulted in more individualism. All over Europe, people got the idea that things were getting wrong. There was a strong fear for the apocalypse and death. This was the age of the witch hunt and of the reformation. Remnants of this period are the fundamentalist churches.


 * 1648: Peace of Westphalia. The end of the wars of religion. During the enlightenment, there was a strong believe in science as the motor for a positive change of society. Freedom, equality and brotherhood were the ideals, which should be imposed on all humans. Remnant of this period is the worldwide dominance of science and economy in politics and society.


 * 1794: Decapitation of Robespierre. The end of the Reign of Terror. During the romanticism, people realized the unhuman tendencies within the enlightened wish for reform of the society. There was more focus on adapting society to change and on those good things of society that shouldn't be changed. Remnant of this period is the wish of society that everybody has a monogamous sexual relationship based on love.


 * 1848: Revolutions of 1848. People discovered the impossibility of cooperation between people with different ideologies. After 1848, ideologies were fighting eachother. There was major fear for people with different opinions. Discipline was a method of guarding members of the good group against the bad people. Remnants of this period are political parties and the civil society.


 * 1968: Worldwide left-wing studentprotests. Postmodernism became dominant. Major ideologies collapsed. Respect for different viewpoints and different lifestyles. No more self-sacrifize. Institutes of this period are the disco and the internet.

Deconstruction

 * Before 1099, there were major states in most of Europe. Local communities had to submit to strong rulers from far away.
 * 1099-1453. The nobility had a culture of honour and violence and didn't want to submit to the rule of the church. The emphasis on cummunities had started before 1099. There were monasteries in the Roman age.
 * 1453-1648. Most people remained moderate. There was much optimism about the European discoveries and the advances in art and knowledge.
 * 1648-1794. Most of the society was against change. Only the American and the French revolution at the end of this period brought real prospect to change.
 * 1794-1848. The enlightenment remained very popular and had more real succes then before 1794. This was the period when government systems were created.
 * 1848-1968. There were many people with a positive outlook. Societies were modernizing. Lots of people were indifferent.
 * 1968-present. Ideologies are still very important. Postmodernism can be regarded as one of the ideologies.