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Civilization The West And The Rest Summary

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Civilization: The West and the Rest, presented by Niall Ferguson, is a documentary in which Ferguson reveals what he calls the six killer applications which has helped Western civilization dominate over everyone else. These six applications are competition, science, property, medicine, consumerism, and work. The application and episode that will be analyzed for this paper is science and the reasons for which Ferguson believes that science helped the West become to be number one. 1,000 years ago it was the East, who was paving the way scientifically due to Muslim mathematicians inventing algebra, their impressive libraries, and Arab science which was improving navigation and weaponry. With the East taking huge strides in science, Niall Ferguson …show more content…

Prussia was considered to be a secular state, which meant that religion did not play into their politics at all. However, in the Ottoman Empire it was the opposite, religion ruled all and their schools focused specifically on religious study. Because religion took precedent over politics, religion prevented them from reading printed books denying Muslim scientists access to the scientific research from Europe. Per Ferguson, during this time, script was considered sacred whereas scholars’ ink was considered holier than martyrs’ blood. Printing was not tolerable and was considered a crime which was punishable by death and remained such until the 18th century. Ferguson says that by rejecting the printed book and cutting themselves off from Western knowledge, the Ottoman Empire fell further and further behind. There was a scientific revolution happening in the West and because there was a separation of church and state, religion didn’t hinder education and knowledge which helped the West soar past the East. Science also led the way for the West to conquer the rest by way of making huge strides

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