Textos para el estudio de la civilización francesa

When speaking of the history of civilisation, a terminological problem immediately crops up: should we be speaking of the history of civilization or the history of culture? The meaning of both terms has been widely debated. Borrowed from the Latin word cultura, we might define this word as the culture of the spirit through events that dignify and improve it. Thus, the distance between culture and civilisation would be what mediates between ideologies, religion, art, literature and philosophy (culture) on the one hand and on the other hand, aspects related to the organisation of society and material techniques (civilisation). The very meaning of civilisation refers to that which makes us civiles and, therefore, distances us from animal life. This book offers a series of significant texts in the study of the History of French Civilization course, from the origin of Galia to the Algerian war of 1954.