Beyond Civilization: The world's four great streams of civilization: their achievements, their differences and their future

by Keith Chandler

The indispensable classic for understanding the origin and nature of civilization and why Western, Indian, Chinese and Mesoamerican societies developed such virtually incompatible worldviews.

494 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

Reviews

[Neelesh Marik · Rating 5 out of 5]

The impetus for this book stemmed from a philosophical project of integrating Eastern and Western thought, the pursuance of which led to the discovery of four (not just two) outlooks straddling the face of human civilization, and a rather startling realization that these could never be synthesized because they are psychologically incompatible. The Theory of Mind-sets, however, led to the conclusion that it is possible to transcend these four mind-sets into what the author calls ‘the post-civilized mind’, a transcendence which, as it turns out is not only possible, but necessary and even indispensable for the survival of the human species.

Two faces of civilization: socio-economic system (the exterior manifestation) and cognitive structure (the interior worldview). That socio-economic system stemmed from a prime motivating force – ‘the whole enterprise was essentially a matter of creating self-contained, symbolic value-worlds’ which necessitated the blood-lust for power. In pre-civilizational times (archaic and magic) human cruelty was largely instinctual-personal, which eventually became systemic-institutional when it became capable of more complex forms of collective organization (mythic and mental-rational).

Chandler brilliantly applies Eric Berne's construct to comparing and contrasting the attitude of the four civilizational outlooks towards order and disorder; and establishing the implications of that on six key avenues of human endeavour: mythology, philosophy, art, law, physical training and sex.