The Battle for Civility: Part II

If an acceptable definition of civility is to have or be a citizen who is enlightened and refined, then the next question that needs to be asked is, "what does enlightened mean?"  The word itself can be defined in two different ways:

1) the verb form means: "To shed light on; to give intellectual light to; enable to see or comprehend."
2) The noun form means: "A movement of the eighteenth century marked by the free use of reason and the rise of humanism." ( The New Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary. Avenel Books. 1980. pg 290 )

When President Gordon B. Hinckley encouraged us to increase in civility, it is quite possible that he was telling us to increase our intellectual understanding of things in general and specifically, increase our understanding of governments and the philosophical ideas that support them.

I don't think that a Prophet was trying to tell us to be satisfied with re-reading our last research paper from American Heritage.  I think he was suggesting that we begin to struggle and stretch ourselves over the ideas that underpin our society.   The next question must be, "why?"

Although there are many reason to explore ideas about governments and social  structures, one of the best explanations can be found in the following quote:

". . .civilization requires. . . .confidence--confidence in the society in which one lives, belief in its philosophy, belief in it laws and confidence in one's own mental powers. The way in which the stones of the Pont du Gard [a Roman aqueduct ] are laid is not only a triumph of technical skill, but shows a vigorous belief in law and discipline.  Vigor, energy, vitality:  all the great civilizations- or civilizing epochs- have had a weight of energy behind them.  People sometimes think that civilization consists in fine sensibilities and good conversation and all that.  These can be among the agreeable results of civilization, but they are not what makes a civilization, and a society can have these amenities and yet be dead and rigid." (Kenneth Clark. Civilization. Harper and Row. 1969 pg.4)

We only need to look to the Book of Mormon to see the disastrous results that can occur when a society loses its sense of civility.

The Battle for Civility: Part I

Amid all of the things I do each day, I try to cut out a little piece of time for a personal research project.  Recently, after finishing an extended conversation with a friend who is a scholar of political science, I realized, "I didn't get it."  We were discussing liberty and civics.  His idea is that when American schools stopped teaching Civics as a general course in high school curriculum, our understanding of liberty "went out the window."

Having passed American Heritage as a requirement at BYU, I though I had a pretty good idea of how the U.S. system of government worked, but after our conversation, I realized I didn't understand how civics differed from civility, which is one of the five words in our motto.  I  immediately wondered how civilization tied into these two words.  I was curious about what these words have in common and in what ways do they differ?  I began to formulate my research question, "What is the origin of civil behavior and how do I express my own standard of civility?"

The Latin root for civic is civis, which means citizen but the Latin root for civility is civilis, also found to be the root for the word civilization.  The first word means a citizen of a state or community and the latter means the condition of being transformed from rudeness or darkness of thought or action to that of a condition of refinement or enlightenment. (The New Websters Encyclopedic Dictionary. Avenel Books.1980 pg 150).

The web site www.English-for-students.com/civ.html defines these words in the following way:

Civic- relating to a citizen
Civics-the science dealing with the rights and duties of a citizen
Civil-trained, refined, relating to citizens
Civility-Quality of being civilized; the manner of a civil person, politness
Civilize-To bring up from barbarianism; to train to live with others
Civilization-The cultural development of man; the process of developing from barbarism

In the list of words given, it is significant that civility is in a central position.  The definition uses the uniquely different word civil-citizen and combines it with the idea of civilize which is the refining and raising of an individual or society from those who are in darkness.