Why Has the West Been So Successful? | 5 Minute Video
The Western world has produced some of the most prosperous and most free civilizations on earth. What makes the West exceptional? Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire and author of “The Right Side of History,” explains that the twin pillars of revelation and reason — emanating from ancient Jerusalem and Athens — form the bedrock for Western civilization’s unprecedented success.
Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2eB2p0h
To view the script, sources, quiz, and study guides, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/why-has-the-west-been-so-successful
VISIT PragerU! https://www.prageru.com
Get PragerU bonus content for free! https://www.prageru.com/bonus-content
Join Prager United to get new swag every quarter, exclusive early access to our videos, and an annual TownHall phone call with Dennis Prager! http://l.prageru.com/2c9n6ys
Join PragerU’s text list to have these videos, free merchandise giveaways and breaking announcements sent directly to your phone! https://optin.mobiniti.com/prageru
Do you shop on Amazon? Click https://smile.amazon.com and a percentage of every Amazon purchase will be donated to PragerU. Same great products. Same low price. Shopping made meaningful.
FOLLOW us!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prageru
Twitter: https://twitter.com/prageru
Instagram: https://instagram.com/prageru/
PragerU is on Snapchat!
SHOP!
Love PragerU? Now you can wear PragerU merchandise! Visit our store today! https://shop.prageru.com/
JOIN PragerFORCE!
For Students: http://l.prageru.com/2aozfkP
JOIN our Educators Network! http://l.prageru.com/2aoz2y9
Script:
Western civilization. It’s been around for a while, but suddenly everybody is talking about it. Some are anxious to save it; others are happy to see it go.
But what exactly is Western civilization?
Is it the great cathedrals of Europe or the Nazi concentration camps? Is it the freedoms secured in the US Constitution or chattel slavery? Life-saving medicines or poison gas?
The left likes to focus on the bad—genocide, slavery, environmental destruction. But those have been present in every civilization from time immemorial.
The positives are unique to the West—religious tolerance, abolition of slavery, universal human rights, the development of the scientific method: these are accomplishments of a scope and scale that only the West can claim.
These aren’t the only achievements that make the West special and uniquely successful. As Western thought evolved, it secured the rights of women and minorities, lifted billions of people out of poverty, and invented most of the modern world.
Progress hasn’t been a straight line, of course. But the arc of history is clear. The obvious proof is that the world is overwhelmingly Western. And, with few exceptions, those parts of the world that aren’t aspire to be.
Why? Why has Western civilization been so successful?
There are many reasons, but the best place to start is with the teachings and philosophies that emerged from two ancient cities: Jerusalem and Athens.
Jerusalem represents religious revelation as manifested in the Judeo-Christian tradition: the beliefs that a good God created an ordered universe and that this God demands moral behavior from His paramount creation, man.
The other city, Athens, represents reason and logic as expressed by the great Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle and many others.
These two ways of thinking—revelation and reason—live in constant tension.
Judeo-Christian religion posits that there are certain fundamental truths handed down to us by a transcendent being. We didn’t invent these truths; we received them from God. The rules He lays down for us are vital for building a functioning, moral civilization and for leading a happy life.
Greek thinking posits that we only know truth by what we observe, test, and measure. It is not faith, but fact, that drives our understanding and exploration of the universe.
Western civilization, and only Western civilization, has found a way to balance both religious belief and human reason.
Here’s how the balance works.
The Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that God created an ordered universe, and that we have an obligation to try to make the world better. This offers us purpose and suggests that history moves forward. Most pagan religions taught the opposite: that the universe is illogical and random, and that history is cyclical. History just endlessly repeats itself—in which case, why bother to innovate or create anything new?
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/why-has-the-west-been-so-successful
source
And Rome !
I've been having this same view on life without knowing it.
Asante sana kukoka Nairobi
Simple answer plundering the richest country India . And cheap labour from Africa
hAD TO PLAY IT AT 2.0
This is the exact proclamation that encompass western core values and civilization thus the entire human race's fate in the future. Plz be rational and faithful.
Western civilization began to take a step towards past nations, such as the collapse of Islamic civilization due to atheism. The emergence of a cleric attacking atheism. He believes that atheism is caused by the destruction of the state, and believes that the philosophy of creating atheism. Abandon philosophy
Why doesnt the west give any credit to other cultures whom they took borrowed ideas and built upon their own ideas which now they only claim to be their own.
We all agree the West is superior, but why bring in Judaism and Christianity? Those are Asian traditions, although they merged with (among others) Greek, Roman, Germanic and Celtic culture. Furthermore, they are (pretty obviously) religions and let's get one thing straight; Europe developed the way it did because its cultural core is pragmatic and not religious.
The west is more developed in compared to whom exactly? to the one that western countries are destroying in the name of democracy and keeping dictatorships in those countries because they are simply pro western governments? I don't mean to mock anything here but for real this is one of the main reasons why many countries that has the capabilities with their own mindset to be developed yet the west keeping them away from doing so.
not so much in 2024. it is in severe accelerated decline.
The video sounded pretty solid up until the end where he had to throw in his hate for liberals/progressives without providing one counter argument to his own reasoning.
Funny how non of the "Western Values" actually came from the west.
I wanna kill myself I've been forced to watch pragerU
We have the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Age of Exploration, the Scientific Revolution, Greek philosophy, Roman government, Judeo-Christian theology/morals, the Industrial Revolution, democracy, free market capitalism, and much much more. I am proud of my heritage, upbringings, values instilled in me, my roots, and ancestry.
The reason why the West has been successful in the past 500 years is because of – the ability to mobilise a large number of people in an organized fashion, for a single-pointed purpose, while simultaneously being governed by a basic set of principles.
Apart from this, there's absolutely nothing else that the "West" can claim to be unique, and with many of the ones quoted, the West itself doesn't really believe.
'religious tolerance'
'human rights'
how ironic
FREE PALESTINE
🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉
Using this as a living example of christo-fascist propaganda of the modern day. Stay sharp, people
I agree with everything he says except that ancient pagan religions were unwise and confused. The Celtic people’s of pre-Christian Western Europe had a very accurate calendar and an impressive knowledge of astronomy. They built many stone circles such as stone-hendg using giant stone that came from hundreds of miles away from where they were set up. Likewise the ancient Greeks were heavily influenced by ancient Egypt as Plato, Pythagoras and many other influential Greek philosophers studied in the ancient Egyptian mystery schools, which were the universities of the day. Even the bible itself is heavily influenced by ancient Egyptian religion as many of the biblical tales which teach great moral and spiritual truths directly correlate to older ancient Egyptian tales.
👏👏👏
Reason without Revelation achieved Nihilism.
Revelation without Reason achieved Blind Faith.
Reason, in its Infancy, benefitted from Revelation to achieve Hope.
However, Reason, in Maturity, can achieve Hope without Revelation.
Like a Parent in the Twilight of their life, it's on Revelation to kindly step aside knowing it's work has been done.
The new era belongs to Evolved Reason. It belongs to Science and Existential Progress.
Tolerance of religion is code for questioning honestly.
Not being sexist is not being intimidated.
Well western protect their believers while other they stay protecting their flag. western believers increasing all over the world while others busy fighting and protecting their own flag
I think PragerU left out Roman empire & Roman Law?
ben shapiro the best
Western Civilization basically says, "God gave you a brain—use it."
So Ben Shapiro is a racist and this channel is known for lying or twisting the truth to fool people into being fascist.
How come he doesn’t mention the West’s colonialism andmilitary expansionism. I think that is a large part of why the West has succeeded. That and their ability to control the narrative. I mean I can go on with a number of factors he doesn’t mention.