The West (as a concept)

Actually, I wish the debate were a bit longer, because there are more elements to discuss I think, but we're already at the final round. SummaryIn round 1, Con challenged the existence of the Western World. He argued that because the boundaries of "the West" cannot be easily defined, that its very existence be called into question. However, as I have explained, "the West" is a prototypical category rather than a bounded one. Even though its borders are difficult to define in absolute terms, it still exists. Lots of categories are prototypical rather than bounded. For example, "nerds" and "Asians" are prototypical categories. We all know nerds and Asians when we see them, and some people are obviously neither, yet a distinct and absolute boundary between "nerds" and "not nerds", for example, would be controversial and difficult to define. The Western WorldLast round, I explained that "the Western World" refers to the beliefs, habits, norms and behaviors that are common to a particular and large group of people - to a general culture, in other words. Con has criticized this because, he says, no single element of culture is definitive of "the West". He gives examples of religion, language, economy, politics, race and ideology. It's an interesting argument, which echoes argument I've heard before that there is no such thing as culture. And to some extent, this is true. Culture is not a thing that roams about the globe affecting people. Rather, there are individuals, and individuals who live in close proximity to each other tend to behave and think in compatible or similar ways, but it's only an outsider who will look at patterns of behavior and label it as culture. Some people have gone so far to suggest that the idea of culture only exists in relation to an out-group of some kind. We can see elements of this in relation to the definition of "the Western World". Even using the term brings to mind the existence of countries and people who are not in "the West". Often the term is deliberately used to exclude them. For instance, you might hear someone say, "In Western Society, women often leave home and live by themselves or with friends before they get married. " What that person means is that it may not be acceptable for a woman to do so in other societies. Pro's argument would be that this characteristic does not define the Western World, that there are other countries where women tend to to the same. This is true. It's kind of like my example of nerds before. Nerds aren't the only ones to get good marks, be interested in technology, read books for pleasure, have bad hair and use pocket protectors. All those qualities can be observed in the population as a whole. Nevertheless, it's a particular combination of qualities, behaviors and social associations that makes a person identifiable as a nerd. The West really does existThe West exists in the same way as the Middle East exists. The Middle East can be categorized in any number of ways (1,2,3,4). Cyrus, Egypt, Sudan, Pakestan, and Afghanistan may or may not be included, for example, not to mention Palestine/the West Bank/Gaza (I'm totally confused about how to refer to it, having been told off both ways now). Nevertheless, it is a real concept. It would be ridiculous and laborsome to refer to a list of countries every time we wanted to talk about politics or society in the region. It's reasonable to group countries together that share similar qualities and refer to them as a group. The countries of Western Europe (including the UK), the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, have lots of social qualities in common (due to historical and genetic ties) and are often aligned politically, so it is sometimes convenient to be able to refer to them as a category. Subjectivity and categoriesCon has said several times that the West is a "subjective" category. I suggest that all categories are subjective, to some extent. For example, to go back to the color analogy, the category of "green" comprises an infinite array of wavelengths (eg, 5). It's "subjective" and "arbitary" to create a category called "green" and to communicate that category with other humans. The same is true with other prototypical categories such as "fruit" and "furry things". These categories only exist to the extent that we believe in them, as Con says. Nevertheless, I suggest that these categories are real in a human sense. After all, there is no reality except that which we perceive and share. We perceive and share the idea of "green" and also the idea of "the West". If we accept that our shared perceptions of reality count for something (a fairly basic assumption) then we can accept that the West does indeed exist. (1) . http://www.britannica.com...(2) . https://www.cia.gov...(3) . http://en.wikipedia.org...(4) . http://www.worldatlas.com...(5) . http://2000thingswpf.files.wordpress.com...