The Greeks may not have come up with every good idea, but they discovered what it means for an idea to be good. Until then, the primitives were mixing good ideas with bad, with no way to discern between them. Sometimes, the good ideas outweighed the bad, and cultures advanced. Other times, the bad outweighed the good, and cultures collapsed. The Greeks showed us how to survive and how to flourish both as individuals and as a society.
Eh.
Might I remind you that the Greek civilizations itself collapsed?
In any case by your rationale that would make China the culture with by far the most good ideas, since they have lasted the longest out of everyone and advanced all the way into the modern age (and still going strong). Therefore if you judge a civilization by how many good ideas theyâve come up with, then the answer to what civilization is the greatest seems pretty clear.
To me the single greatest strength that China has is the fact that they are completely and utterly grounded in secular reality. Every single time a foreign power invades China, the Chinese simply absorbs their strengths and internalize it without losing their cultural identity. Just look at the speed with which they transformed from a communist state into a world economic powerhouse to get an idea of what they do.
Then there is also the fact that the Chinese have long held intellectuals and men of learning as the most important of men in a society. Teachers of philosophy were honored and held in esteem by commoners and the emperor alike. To the Chinese, philosophy was not a esoteric or marginalized liberal art but a necessity for a functional society. Chinese public officials (outside of those with hereditary titles) are chosen through official tests designed to gauge their philosophical knowledge and its applications to reality. Most of the revered figures and heros throughout Chinese history were not conquerers or mystics, but rather (to borrow Western archetypes) philosopher kings, warrior poets, and great intellectuals.
This strict secular adherence and implicit trust of the human mind also resulted in the Chinese being some of the greatest practitioners of capitalism if you look at history as a whole. Chinese merchants dominated virtually all the economies in Asia for the majority of its existence, and even opening up the silk road for trading into the West.
Now admittedly, the most dominant philosophy of China historically was Confucianism, which is obviously riddled with flaws and was not built from the ground up with rational fundamental principles. If the question here was what ancient civilization developed the better philosophy, then I would obviously choose the Greeks. But nonetheless China has showed clearly that the rigorous study and application of a flawed philosophy is already enough to build a civilization that stands the test of time. It is as you said, clearly the Chinese culture had far more good ideas than they had bad (ie. the correct values), or they could never have lasted this long. I can only imagine what the Chinese will be capable of when they combine their openness to new ideas with their traditional values regarding intellect and philosophy now that they have opened their door to the West.
So yes, the Greeks systemized thought and slapped a name on it, but many, many others were practicing the âgood ideasâ on their own before, during, and after the Greeks (independent from Greek philosophical influences or otherwise, and probably would have continued to do so whether the Greeks even existed or not). If we truly believe that man is rational, there will always be capable, rational men that move those around them towards the right direction. Like I said earlier, if the man that discovered fire hadnât, someone else would have done so sooner or later (probably sooner, if the need was great enough). Weâre rational beings, and thatâs what rational beings do.
