@Escoffier not to go autistic on you in particular...but in case someone gets interested...he looks for patterns that all civilizations must go through (rise and declines, a Caesar like figure etc...)...and distinguishes between the commonalities of unique civilizations...ours (western civilization) would be the faustian civilization and we have as a symbol boundless space...which has defined our endless quest for knowledge...land...exploration etc...whereas other civilizations like the chinese for example each had their own thing...the civilizations can have their own preferred art forms (music for us compared to theatre for classical civilizations)...architecture...tools...concepts of time...