CIVILIZATION. – The idea of civilization refers to an object so complex, composed of so many disparate and diverse elements, that it is not surprising that there are often conflicting definitions. In their formulation, ideological presuppositions weigh heavily, whether consciously or unconsciously guiding the analysis of the given data and determining the choice of one element over another. To grasp the essence of civilization and simultaneously assign a hierarchical order among the values of which it is composed, it is necessary to insist above all on objective analysis, incorporating just enough rational speculation to facilitate the ascent from purely empirical order to that of more universal values.
If one considers its etymological origin (from *civis* or *civitas*), the term expressly indicates an inescapable relation between any form of progress and social man or society, from which it unfolds and in which it resides. In this sense, civilization is equivalent to the material and spiritual condition of life achieved by man within collective coexistence in a given historical period, and it is generically opposed to barbarism. It is not easy, however, to establish an exact line of separation between civilized and barbarous peoples, to determine where barbarism ends and civilization begins, since it is undeniable that even in societies considered barbarous there are certain elements—especially moral ones—that belong to the soul of true civilization. This observation underpins the use of ethnological sciences, which apply the term "civilization," without distinction of concept or scope, to the social state of peoples, distinguishing the various phases of their political and economic organization into primary, secondary, and mixed civilizations, according to the prevalence or absence of certain characteristics deemed original to a given culture. Nevertheless, while adherence to the etymological sense may aid in classifying primitive peoples according to an empirical criterion derived from the development of their social institutions, it is not sufficient to form an adequate concept. To achieve this, one must refer to its proximate cause. Such a cause, as the etymology itself suggests, is social man. The idea of civilization, in fact, has an essential relation to the rational creature, insofar as it is ordered toward developing its life within a collective organism, necessary for its full realization. The end toward which the progress of civilization aims is man: the subject upon whom the well-being of civilization is bestowed, and from which collective life flows back to its first and original source, the human person. Such is the dependence of the concept of civilization on the person as part of a human aggregate that progress cannot be conceived without stable relations, nor civilization divorced from man. Social man is both its producer and its bearer. Based on this relation, civilization could be defined, with Sombart, as the creation of man, which contrasts with the divine creation of nature; or, with Guizot, as the development of social and individual activity in the progress of society and humanity; or, again, with a more recent author, Maritain: “the organically determined whole, which has its own form and character, of social values that are communicable in themselves.” These are rather vague expressions, to which a content can be attributed only insofar as they broadly signify that civilization refers to social man, who evolves and is perfected through the achievements of science, the applications of technology, the creations of art, the formation of traditions, and the construction of institutions, codes, and laws.
To arrive at a more determinate and simultaneously graduated concept of civilization, according to a precise hierarchy of the values of which it is composed, one must refer to something more objective and scientifically analyzable. Keeping in mind that civilization indicates a relation to collective coexistence, this element can be found in the common good, and thus, with Taparelli, one may say that civilization is nothing other than social perfection, that is, the perfection of the common good. The perfection of every being consists in tending toward its proper end, achieving and realizing it within itself, so that it will be all the more perfect the more fully it has realized the end to which it naturally tends. Now, the natural end of the social aggregate consists in the common good, and therefore it follows that social life can be said to be perfect only when it corresponds to all or nearly all the demands of the common good. The common good, moreover, as the end to be achieved, requires the union of the wills and efforts of individuals; as a good already acquired, it postulates the greatest extension and expansion. A society will therefore be civilized, according to the accepted objective concept, when social unity is firm, activity is effective, and natural and tranquil progress is made. This is essentially the conclusion reached by Romagnosi, who defines civilization as the best and most cultured coexistence achieved by a State.
To identify the elements that come together in the composition of a civilized coexistence, one need only analyze the fundamental needs and demands of human nature, to whose satisfaction society is ordered. Man naturally moves toward the good, in which the operative faculty finds its fulfillment and repose. Thus, it assumes different aspects according to the various tendencies and faculties of man. In the spiritual order, the intellect tends toward the good under the aspect of the true; the will, on the other hand, concerns the good, essentially human, that is, moral good. In the sensible order, the common object of the various faculties is the pleasurable good, toward which they tend without further purpose than their own satisfaction. The elements that therefore enter into the composition of civilization, understood as the perfection of the common good, are truth, moral good, and pleasurable good. A society may then be called civilized when within it the broadest dissemination of truth is achieved in its manifold forms—religious, speculative, scientific, and practical—the most uncontested dominion of moral good in private and public life, through the observance of natural law and positive norms inspired by justice, and the widest diffusion of material well-being, which at once facilitates the pursuit of truth and the triumph of morality. To these three orders of good—intellectual, moral, and material—all other means that enhance the splendor and well-being of social life can and must be reduced, as well as all the varied forms of civil life in which the tendency toward society is realized according to the character, needs, and aptitudes of each people.
In civilization, a distinction must be made between constant elements and variable elements; the latter determine the particular character that civilization assumes with the changing of times and circumstances. The constant elements are represented by the goods mentioned above, which, being the essential components, must necessarily be found in any particular form of civilized life. The variable elements depend either on the degree of perfection achieved in their possession by various peoples, or on accidental superstructures deriving from the environment, the character and psychological disposition of those who are its agents, or from cultural contacts with other peoples. Each people reacts differently to external stimuli and expresses itself differently in the realization of the true, the good, and the beautiful. Hence the great variety in modes of thought, in art, in laws and customs, in traditions and institutions.
Civiltà Cattolica (La) - Title page of fascicle II of vol. I (3rd Saturday of April 1850) - Naples.
is inferior to all others, to which is reserved the function of a means for the gradual intellectual and moral elevation of man. Technical progress and applied science, material well-being, as less noble aspects of civilization, are valuable only insofar as they are accompanied by an equal or greater progress in the realm of moral and spiritual values. If this does not occur, there will be a culture but not a civilization, which in fact enters into crisis and dissolves. The domination of the irrational marks the sunset of civilization. The myth, whatever its nature—national, racial, or class-based—destroys it, just as materialism stifles it along with any conception that denies the value and nobility of man, since civilization is the most refined fruit of spiritual activity, operating in collaboration with other intelligent beings within social coexistence.