Patterns in the Graeco-Roman and Western Civilizations - a study of Toynbee's A Study of History

摘要

The thesis is a discussion of the view of history set forth by Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975) in his 12-volume A Study of History, published in 1934-61. The thesis presents the private and professional influences that shaped Toynbee and his view of history, e.g. his relationship with Oswald Spengler, and it presents the parts of Toynbee’s philosophy of history that deals with the Graeco-Roman and Western Civilizations. Toynbee detected a recurring pattern in the development of these two civilizations that places current Western Civilization at a point of development roughly equivalent to that of the Graeco-Roman Civilization in the 1st century B.C.Many reviewers have attacked Toynbee’s system and pointed to flaws in its method and conclusions. I present and discuss some of this critique and conclude that much of it is fair and reasonable, yet that it does not seem to impinge on the generel structure of his system, such as the very idea of focusing on civilizations and the larger phases they go through. These parts seem to remain largely intact. I note that many reviewers have focused on the more ‘extravagant’ parts of Toynbee’s system, for instance his differing interpretations of the value of certain historical actors and processes, which has diverted attention from a careful discussion of which parts of his system remain sound. The present thesis is meant to contribute to that discussion. In chapter 3, I discuss three parts of the Toynbeean system. I investigate more closely the term ‘civilization’ and conclude that Toynbee is not consistent in his use of it. I then propose to define a civilization by what I call a shared cosmology, a set of myths that explain the purpose and nature of the universe and the role of human beings in that universe. The defining cosmology in both civilizations came in the form of a religion, and it seems to me that this definition captures the phenomenon ‘civilization’ in the way Toynbee works with it. Secondly, I investigate Toynbee’s notion of the ‘growth of civilizations’ and conclude, along with many others, that Toynbee’s description of the growth process is far from adequate, but that his main term Challenge and Response does indeed seem useful in explaining many instances of growth. I suggest a new definition of growth and a distinction between cultural and civilizational growth, which I believe may clear up some of the controversy over the concept. Finally, I conclude that Toynbee’s term Time of Troubles does seem generally useful and that it seems to fit into a larger pattern whereby the civilization expands physically through three successive waves, each time carried out by fewer and larger political units than the wave preceding it. This leads towards the civilization being united under one political framework, Toynbee’s Universal State.