Civilisation EP13#5

Kenneth Clark's "Civilisation" - Heroic Materialism - Lord Clark shows how the heroic materialism of the past hundred years has been linked with a remarkable increase in humanitarianism. The achievements of engineers and scientists - Brunel and Rutherford, for example - have been matched by those of the great reformers like Wilberforce and Shaftesbury.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Civilisation
• Kenneth
• Clark
• Abolition
• of
• Slavery
• Industrial
• Revolution
• Humanitarianism
• Brunel
• Courbet
• Millet
• Tolstoy
• Urge to Destruction
• God-Given Genius

[Pi10sco]

I love his credo at the end. Gentleness, respect for others, a rational and artistic temperament--sign me up for that good old Western liberalism every time. Thank you, Kenneth Clark. I've been an admirer of your masterpiece for most of my fifty years.

[TwoMunchuTwo]

Agree.

[chemoelectric]

How come Kenneth Clark gets to touch the art and I don't? They don't even let me close to it.

I think this really has been my favorite documentary series since I was a teenager in the 1970s. I've missed it.

[cantleysugar]

@Myndir A little complacent if you don't mind me saying. There is still no centre, but it is rapidly being filled by a 7th century Arab cult. Our civilisation is tottering, whether you can see it or not.

[andrjsh]

"As ignorant as swans:" a precise & elegant image.

[Dannys998877]

@baudelaire123 There are seven musical credits for episode 13. "Symphony No. 1" by William Walton, "Bahn Frei" from "Tales from the Vienna Woods" by Strauss, "La Belle Helene" by Offenbach, "Shine Out Fair Sun" from "Spring Symphony" by Benjamin Britten, "The Driving Boy" from "Spring Symphony" by Britten, "Responsories for Tenebrae" by Tomas Luis de Victoria, and "Apollon Musagete" by Stravinsky. Not really sure, but if in order, the library music would be the second "Spring Symphony" piece.

[TwoMunchuTwo]

It's only by a quick, unreflective dismissal like,"Oh they're extremists" that we can maintain our nice warm narcissism. We should read the signboards that get lofted at the demonstrations. Perhaps we should take them seriously.

[Myndir]

A wonderful series. As it turned out, things have been ok- certainly far better than most people dared to dream back in 1966.

[aoganesian]

Thank you for posting all thirteen episodes. I've heard and read much about this series, but am too young to have watched it when it was first produced. There's much to think about after watching this and I hope that many people who have also watched the program do so as well.