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Configurations of Culture Growth

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Configurations of Culture Growth is a systematic examination into the manner and typical stages of the rise, culmination, and decline of the most important pulses or growths in philosophy, science, sculpture, painting, literature, drama, and music. The inquiry starts from the well-recognized fact that most high-order productivity in the intellectual and aesthetic fields of culture is achieved in spasmodic bursts. The examination is comparative as between Oriental and Western, an¬ cient and modern civilizations. “This volume may well be destined to become one of the great twentieth century contributions to that precious store of ideas which constitute the spearheads of true expansion in knowledge. The book develops a bold and novel approach toward an analysis of our own culture and strikes directly at the nature of progress and socio-cultural evolution in a most vigorous scientific manner, yet inspired and philosophic in sweep.”—Isis “This volume . . . caps the prolific and extraordinarily varied publications of the most distinguished of living American anthropologists. . . . Besides the depth and breadth of the author’s learning, this book is remarkable for its scientific detachment and restraint and, not least, for singular graces of style. . . . the simple elegance and matchless lucidity of Kroeber’s prose incite the reader to try long passages aloud. . . . Configurations of Culture Growth deserves those abused adjectives ‘great’ and ‘monumental.’”—American Journal of Sociology “Kroeber has unquestionably made an important and highly challenging contribution to the corpus of historical thought . . . this approach to the interpretation of human history is at once more soundly scientific and more rational than most of those that hitherto have sought to explain the riddle of the rise and fall of civilizations.”—Journal of Modern History “The amount of historical research that Kroeber expended in this study was matched only by the breadth of his competence. The result is an outstandingly scholarly contribution to the analysis of patterns in the evolution of human culture, as this has been expressed throughout the world in philosophy, science, philology, sculpture, painting, drama, literature, music and the growth of nations.”—American Naturalist “No brief review can do justice to the scope of Professor Kroeber’s book and to the richness of the data he has studied. It is a work of great scholarship and energy, presented with the dignified modesty of a great scholar.”—Philosophical Review “The author treated historical materials with a sociological purpose by the methods of an anthropologist. The result is a startlingly novel study . . . It is a monumental work [which] deserves a place with the historical works of Sorokin, Toynbee, and Spengler.”—Sociology and Social Research

Author(s): A. L. Kroeber
Publisher: University of California Press
Year: 1969

Language: English
Pages: x+882
City: Berkeley & Los Angeles

Preface, vii

CHAPTER I. Problem and Procedure, 3
The Undertaking, 3. Genius, 7. The Problem, 16. Procedure, 21.

CHAPTER II. Philosophy, 31
The History of Philosophy, 31. Greek Philosophy, 32. Later Mediterranean, 38. Arab-Muslim, 41. Occidental, 46. Mediaeval, 48. Modern, 52. Indian, 62. Chinese, 67. Discussion, 75.

CHAPTER III. Science, 97
General, 97. Greek Science, too. Roman, 119. Greek and Roman Relations, 120. Arab-Mohammedan Science, 122. Eastern Arabic, 123. Western Arabic, 132. Occidental Science, 134. Italy, 136. Switzerland, 139. France, 142. The Netherlands, 145. Great Britain, 148. Germany, 154. Marginal Nations, 162. The General European Course, 169. Egyptian and Mesopotamian Science, 174. Indian, 179. Chinese, 183. Japanese, 199. Conclusions, 204.

CHAPTER IV. Philology, 215
The Nature of Philology, 215. Indian Philology, 217. Greek, 220. Latin, 223. Chinese, 223. Japanese, 225. Arabic, 226. Hebrew, 229. Linguistics and Comparative Philology, 229. Summary, 234.

CHAPTER V. Sculpture, 239
Egypt, 239. Mesopotamia, 243. The Greek World, 247. Rome, 253. Byzantium, 254. India, 254. Colonial India, 260. China, 269. Japan, 275. Middle America, 281. The Occident, 283. Summary for the West, 307. Discussion, 309.

CHAPTER VI. Painting, 319
Egypt, 319. Greece, 321. Vase Painting, 325. India, 329. China, 331. Japan, 339. The Occident, 346. Italy, 347. The Netherlands, 357. Germany, 369. France, 375. Spain, 385. England, 389. Marginal Countries in the Nineteenth Century, 393. The Occident as a Whole, 399.

CHAPTER VII. Drama, 409
The Nature of Drama, 409. Greek Drama, 410. Latin, 413. Sanskrit, 416. Chinese, 421. Japanese, 423. Occidental Dramas, 426. Italy, 426. Spain, 430. England, 434. France, 437. Germany, 440. Marginal Late Europe, 442. Discussion, 443.

CHAPTER VIII. Literature, 453
General Considerations, 453. Chinese Literature, 455. Japanese 468. Sanskrit, 477. Literature of the Ancient Near East, 483 Greek Literature, 489. Latin, 508. Arabic, 518. Persian, 529 Occidental Literatures, 535. French, 536. Provencal, 545. Ger man, 548. Italian, 559. Spanish, 564. Portuguese, 570. English 572. Dutch, 587. Scandinavian, 590. Polish, 599. Russian, 603 American English, 606. European Literature as a Whole, 610 Historical Summary, 614.

CHAPTER IX. Music, 627
European Music, 627. The Netherlands, 627. Italy, 631. Germany, 637. France, 643. England, 648. Marginal Developments, 651. Review and Conclusions, 655.

CHAPTER X. The Growth of Nations, 663
Egypt, 663. China, 668. Japan, 673. India, 680. The Ancient Mediterranean, 687. Islam, 695. The Occident: Nuclear Nations, 699. France, 700. Italy, 703. Spain, 708. England, 710. Germany, 713. The Netherlands, 715. Switzerland, 718. The Occident: America, 721. The Occident: Peripheral Europe, 724. The Jews, 736. The West as a Whole, 741.

CHAPTER XI. Review and Conclusions, 761
Universal in History, 761. Cultural Patterns and Growths, 762. Pulses and Lulls in Growth, 766. Types of Growth Configurations, 769. The Question of Growth Curves, 773. Interrelation of Cultural Activities, 777. Sculpture and Painting, 779. Philosophy and Science, 782. Special Problems of Growth Interrelation, 790. Relation of Culture Content and Climax, 795. Religion, 799. Durations of Growths, 804. Retarded and Insular Growths, 810. Growth at the Peripheries, 813. The Question of Cultural Death, 818. Spengler, 825. Exceptional Isolated Genius, 834. Conclusions, 838.

Bibliography, 849

Index, 861