For centuries indigenous peoples have been identified with subsistence economies, meaning that productive activities were mainly intended to satisfy local needs. Even when other pursuits such as production for the market, trading and migrant wage or contract labor was present, hunting, gathering and cultivation for subsistence would ensure the survival of local territorial units, be they famili...

IN HIS CLASSIC WORK Science and Civilization in China, Joseph Needham explored the historical reasons why China, for all its long civilization, never developed science as we understand it in the modern West, namely a quantitative, technologically driven science of the outer, physical world. In this paper I shall first outline some of the reasons why Western civilization has never developed a sc...

There are numerous views on how the West should be defined. In addition, there are just as many views on how one should define civilization. Just what is it that we refer to when we use the phrase ‘Western Civilization’? This is much more than an exercise in semantics. It is an important question especially if we accept the current war against terrorism as a manifestation of a clash of civiliza...

Science serves its readers as a forum for the presentation and discussion of important issues related to the advancement of science, including the presentation of minority or conflicting points of view, rather than by publishing only material on which a consensus has been reached. Accordingly, all articles published in Science-including editorials, news and comment, and book reviews -are signed...

Although the visual arts have long been a feature of civilization courses, instructors do not always exploit their full potential. This paper presents a checklist to help teachers identify the relevant aspects of the arts for study. Its goal is to facilitate comprehensive treatment of works of art by focusing on three areas: the aesthetic dimension, the social context, and the artist’s own expe...