Originally published : England : Allan Lane, 2009.
Contents:
Part one, Civilization as belonging -- Bridget's question -- 'Wider still and wider' -- The clash of civilizations -- Quality of relationships -- The paradox of freedom -- The best self -- Pursuing an ideal -- Part two, Civilization as material progress -- The office and the spire -- Efficiency -- Pro and contra -- The tower -- Flourishing -- The hierarchy of needs -- Integration -- Part three, Civilization as the art of living -- The crooked timbers of humanity -- The beast in me -- Responding to the human condition -- Little things -- Raising up -- Barbarism ... -- ... and decadence -- Part four, Civilization as spiritual prosperity -- Life-giving ideas -- Down in the city -- Up at the villa -- Depth -- Higher things -- Mental space -- Our sovereign concept.
Summary:
"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 connotations of elitism. For it to have value once again, according to Armstrong, we must understand that a society balances material prosperity with spiritual prosperity if it is to merit the term 'civilized'--and currently we are impoverished. 'In Search of Civilization' is his corrective. As he roams from anecdote to aesthetic appreciation--from the banality of an early job at an insurance company to the redemptive wonders of a seventeenth-century church spire visible out an office window, from Adam Smith's philosophy to the Japanese tea ceremony--Armstrong reminds us that culture lies within us and that its nourishment is essential to a flourishing society."--Dust jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.