What do we mean by Western civilisation ? When did the expression originate and why? At a time when there is a widespread perception that Western civilisation is undergoing a historic crisis, and when postmodernism, feminist theory, afrocentrism, deconstruction and other current philosophical schools define themselves as alternatives to, or critiques of, Western civilisation, this book seeks to trace the development of the concept of Western civilisation and to examine the reasons for its endurance.