What is civilization?

Question

What is civilization?

Answer 1

It comes from the Latin, "civilis", which means city...

Answer 2

1st stage of civilization:  city state based on kingship (divine ruler) and redistribution (like mycenean society).

2nd stage of civilization:  free men hold private property in land, relate to each other by enforceable contracts, money and loans with interest.  non-free people (women, slaves) are property of others, do not have the rights that freemen do. greek polis, athens.

3rd stage of civilization: modern capitalism. has defining characteristics of 2nd stage, but abolishes slavery and eventually turns almost everyone into freemen who "enjoy" civil rights (even women).  distinguishing characteristics are a) technical progress/innovation and b) in the long run, reduced birth rates and sub replacement fertility (see europe - U.S. still an exception, but trend is downwards).

3rd stage civilization variant: modern socialism (1917-1989). thinks of itself as free society, but actually freemen, free property in land and freedom of contract are missing.  is structurally more like 1st stage of civilization, but imports / copies division of labor and technological structures from capitalism, which makes it look "modern" without actually having the driving force of "modernization" (which is created through the combination of private property, contract, credit, interest and money).  

Answer 3

Civilization is a concentrated group of beings who have constructed an environment which uses interelated parts to function as a single unit. It also entails some sort of a social contract between the population and those running it. For more on the philosophy of civilization i suggest reading "machiavelli's, The Prince" and "hobbe's Leviathan"