Perspectives on History - Perspectives on Western Civilization: Volume 2 (paperback edition)

Volume II of Perspectives on Western Civilization, which spans the early modern period to the present, continues the examination of basic values and changing ideas of the good life. Through a collection of primary and secondary materials, these themes are developed in both their continuity and conflicts with each other. From the new foundation of the civilization in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, new challenges and problems arise with the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution centering on the definition of the individual and the power of the state. The nineteenth century faces additional crises, as the idea of reason and the understanding of the individual are questioned by the writings of Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud, and Christian values are rearticulated. The wars and revolutions of the twentieth century further question the founding ideas of science and the Enlightenment. The concluding chapters highlight the current debates on the viability of the Enlightenment tradition and the position of the modern West among other world civilizations.