A Preface of upcoming book “Progression Of Knowledge In Western Civilization” by Mr. Mirza Iqbal Ashraf
The word civilization, which is a relatively recent application from eighteenth-century when it came into currency, is generally invoked more with a rhetorical flourish than argued within philosophical perspective. But history of knowledge considers its true object is the study of human mind, to know what his mind has believed, thought, and felt in diverse periods of progression of its civilization. This also means, whereas it is important to understand today’s world so that we can deal with our contemporary period’s civilizational challenges, it will be incomplete if we do not assess that modernity is born from the progress made by the knowledge of the past thinkers. But knowledge does not arrive fully formed; it requires many minds, specifically those minds which are free from the civilization’s religious, cultural, and geophysical trappings.
In the Progression of Knowledge in Western Civilization, I have expounded that even in modern time, no knowledge is complete without visiting the knowledge of the past, especially of the great Greek thinkers such as, Thales, Homer, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Democritus the Atomist, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and many more. In addition to the democratic political system which is considered the best form of “government of the people for the people by the people,” the knowledge of philosophy and sciences appeared first of all in the fifth century before the Common Era in Greece, which is today the hierarchy of Western Civilization. In this book, I have discussed when some other regions of the world might be familiar with philosophy and science, in one way or another, why such a treasure of knowledge emerged particularly in the region of Greece that became a foundation of voluminous work of literature in almost every field of knowledge, and most interestingly, how it amazingly flourished in the West to have made an impact in every corner of the world that today the Western civilization is viewed as a great civilization?
Though Islamic theology had stemmed from a base different from the Greek traditions, the Greek philosophy in what it could do and explain proved a temptation hard to resist for the early Muslim theologians, philosophers, and scientific thinkers. Using the language and culture of their religion, Muslims started exploring and explaining ideas and arguments of Greek thought which were agreeable to Islamic view. Since, doctrine of Neoplatonism fitted neatly into Islamic theology, it made an overall impact on Muslim philosophy. Though Neoplatonism does not seriously affirm the idea of a God creating out of nothing, it does emphasize the existence of one Supreme Being out of which everything else emerges in such a way as not to tamper with the absolute unity of the One God in Islam. When modern philosophical thought in the West began with Rene Descartes, knowledge of Classical Greek philosophy and science preserved and interpreted by the Muslims had already penetrated deep into Europe. In the history of Western philosophy, there is sufficient evidence that most of the texts written in Arabic as well as in Hebrew during the golden era of Muslim rule, had been translated into Latin and other languages and were made available to the European thinkers.
I have arranged this book in four parts. Each part postulates the hypothesis that it is “civilizing of knowledge” rather than the traditionally abiding matrix of civilized practices of cities, nations, and states, that Western civilization is seen as a universal civilization. Starting from what is special about the Greeks or the region known as Greece to have produced so powerful knowledge, that mankind even in twenty first century is indebted to them in their great achievements in art, literature, philosophy, general science, medicine, history, politics, ethics and morality, and moving to the final part of the book describing that in the Western civilization human legacy of past geniuses is being overtaken today by the Silicon Valley’s “Robotic Geniuses.” At the same time, Progression of Knowledge in Western Civilization remains focused on the projection of free thought, its achievement in modern secular political theories and democratic systems, economic and social structures, scientific and technological developments, and its heritages of diverse cultures, still considers the importance of religious traditions. In every part of this work, it is explained that a major role of Western civilization is to acquaint every new generation of students, not only in learning more about the progress in human knowledge, but also that it is because of its appeal of knowledge to every one in every corner of the world that this civilization remains universally alive.
Whereas some argue that the development of Western Civilization—complete with organized mass welfare, extensive environmental pollution, alienation, economic exploitation, and social freedom and oppression—indicates a decline in moral values it inherited from its Greco Roman fount, yet Western civilization, unlike some other lost civilizations, is neither shrinking nor being destroyed. Indeed, it is losing its original getup by being diluted and dispersed all over the globe because of its interaction with diverse cultures and impacts of modern technology, but it is still active and spreading by depositing its seeds of knowledge of philosophies, sciences and new technologies. It is assisting mankind to develop a common global culture. Its progression is being made possible by the erosion of distances enabled by its researches and developments in modern technology, new roads, bridges, ports, airplanes, massive container ships, fiber optic-cables and most importantly cyber-net connectivity.1 It is all on account of human knowledge that recently, David Attenborough has told the world leaders that climate change could lead to the collapse of civilizations and much of the natural world.2
I, believe my work, Progression of Knowledge in Western Civilization, is a useful companion for all the seekers of knowledge. It will help the readers to learn the advancement of knowledge and understand the present age by exploring the role played by the past and present thinkers, philosophers, scientists, and literary geniuses of the Western Civilization. I have attempted to weave together the thoughts of most of the prominent thinkers who have appeared in every age of human history of knowledge and have made their impact in shaping not only the Western Civilization but also the regions beyond the Western world over the centuries to be acknowledged as a Universal Civilization of Knowledge.
The magnetism of modernity has remained human being’s perennial passion. A born thinker, philosopher, scientist, and discoverer, man has cognized to define his identity by striving incessantly to shape it according to his contemporary period. Liberating himself from the deterministic modes of his existence and viewing to be no more at the mercy of biological and natural forces, he endeavors to be woven like a tapestry by his own hands for himself. After the “First Explosion of Knowledge” which appeared in Ancient Greece and the “Second Explosion of Knowledge” during the European Renaissance, and experiencing the “Third Explosion of Knowledge” engendered by the “Information Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI),” we are viewing the “Fourth Explosion of Knowledge,” which, with our stepping into the “Digital Culture,” is going to establish new perspectives of philosophical and intellectual outlook to human imagination. The Progression of Knowledge in Western Civilization hypothesizes that, today, what is much more important than human genius is the emerging power of Digital Technology and Human Intelligence’s digital double the Artificial Intelligence.
We know that traditionally, in the past, knowledge has remained focused on four basic subjects, that is religion, reason, logic, and ethics, while modern technology has taken over these four subjects of knowledge in a unified “scientific form.” Today, instead of the old institutions of knowledge, Western civilization has established a modern center, the “Silicon Valley of Geniuses,” built on the foundation of contemporary culture of inventions and reinventions, run by the algorithmically working and digitally cogitating Siliconian Geniuses, who do not fight for or against change, but embrace it and empower human quest for more inventions. But, by following the Silicon brain at an intoxicating level, we are plugging ourselves into the abyss of algorithmic consciousness, and for some thinkers, crippling our evolved brain’s consciousness. However, it seems true that in this era of internet’s instant connectedness of everyone with everyone, the intuitive mind defining our own course is becoming sluggish and may in the long run become futile, unless the Siliconian Geniuses help us to make sense of the interplay between humans and digital technology, whose advances in computing power of artificial intelligence threaten to overwhelm us with complexity.— Copyright © 2020 by Mirza Iqbal Ashraf
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1. Kaplan, Robert D.: The Return of Marco Polo’s World, Random House, New York, 2018: pp 6-7.