CCD   HISTORY 101 - History of Western Civilization 1


What is the nature of the past ? 

linear, cyclic

unitary, multifarious

evolutionary, devolutionary

History Modeled in 

Cyclic Stages: civilizations have a life cycle from youth through maturity and old age to death

Ancient: Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, Lucretius, Seneca

Modern: Oswald Spengler (The Decline of the West)

Repeated Rise and Fall: Thucydides

Linear: 

Judeo-Christian:  St. Augustine (The City of God

Modern: Arnold Toynbee (A Study of History)

Devolution from a "Golden Age" in the past (Eden, Age of the Gods and Heroes, Noble Savage)

Hesiod

various Roman writers