Ask yourself this question: which survived longer, China, or Rome? The conventional answer is China, of course. By why is that the conventional answer? Is that not just a story we tell ourselves? Why do we say that China is 2000 years old, but that the Roman Empire fell 1500 years ago? China was conquered … Continue reading On the Relative Longevity of Chinese and Roman Civilization
Tag: the west
Not Postmodern
What is the West? Not Postmodern. Now, a lot of people like to use these terms like "modern", "postmodern" and even "anti-postmodern" without knowing exactly what they mean. So for the sake of having some common vocabulary for once, let's define our terms. Modernism - the philosophical outlook that defined the West through the late … Continue reading Not Postmodern
Not China
I begin this blog in China, where I have just begun a sojourn of several years, so forgive me if some of the early posts in this blog ostensibly about the West discuss China. However, there is an incidental benefit to beginning in this way: in the same way that F. Scott Fitzgerald or Langston … Continue reading Not China
Whither the West? 