Soon or later the desert closed in and the oasis was no more.

C E M Joad Essay Reintroduced P.

S. Remesh Chandran Editor, Sahyadri Books Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

British philosopher C.

E. M. Joad discusses its merits and defects in his vivid and systematic analysis in his essay Our Own Civilization which is part of his famous book The Story of Civilization.

He discusses our civilizations encouraging as well as discouraging aspects.

He expected to spend the excess time liberated through the engagement of machines on developing his civilization.

But strangely the machines became his masters and now he is a slave to them.

Cranes trains and typewriters were invented to do the works of arms legs and brains.

In fact man is the most restless and energetic of all living creatures.

His intention in inventing machines was to spend the excess leisure time generated through machines on developing beneficial things for the world.

Our own civilization has many merits as well as a few defects.

The order and safety it offers, the health conditions it provides, its habit of spreading, and the unity of the world it encourages are the merits.

But now we can go to the police station or a court of law for the redressal of our grievances and settling of things.

Thus in disputes between man and man, right has taken the place of might.

Order and safety are things without which civilization would be impossible.

In the past diseases and death were common and people died in large numbers in every society.

Modern civilization has succeeded in lowering the death rate among human beings and elevating their life span.

Unless we have good health we cannot enjoy or achieve anything.

What most differentiates modern civilization from earlier civilizations is its ability to spread.

Earlier civilizations were contained within the boundaries of their local mountains or water bodies and spread nowhere.

They were secluded and so, suffered brutal attacks from barbarians with no civilization at all.

This was the fate of Babylon and Assyria and it happened over and over again in India and China.

Ancient civilizations were like oases in a surrounding desert of savagery.

The Civilization Of Today Cem Joad Pdf