The End of the West and Other Cautionary Tales

Most historical accounts of "the West" take it for granted that the guiding principles of the Western tradition?reason, progress, and freedom?have been passed down directly from ancient Greece to modern Europe, evolving in isolation from all non-Western cultures. Today, many political analysts and cultural critics maintain that the Western tradition is fast approaching its end, for better or worse, as it becomes more and more integrated with non-Western cultures in an increasingly globalized world. But what if we are witnessing something else entirely?not the "end" of the West but rather another historical mutation of the idea of the West itself?