There’s an opinion that West is a Western Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism) plus Roman law plus capitalism. There’s also an opinion that West is a synonym to Modernity. Also we have an opinion, which can be described with a help of poetic metaphor: Athens-Jerusalem-Rome or bring it to Agora. All these attempts to seize something universal can probably describe some part of the problem and we can agree with all of them from some point of view.
But I would like to suggest a dimension, which, I believe, describes West and which we need today like never before. West is a Reason. Not in the sense of Hegel's incarnated kingdom of Reason (Concept), and without the illusion that everything in the West is subordinate to reason and irrational actions and impulses are not possible. No, such world would be a cold world of eternal today, which is operated by machines-somnambulists. But during a long historical process and with a great price West managed to develop a rational procedural protection against insane voluntarism. Will (including political) should be inscribed in the framework of rational procedures (and as a result Will gets legitimacy justified by the institutions while procedures and institutions strengthen their authority, even if the Will is forced to obey them) and not these procedures must be re-written each time because of a certain Will. The simple adherence to the prescribed rational procedures, and not the desire to bypass them at every turn, could save us from many troubles.
If we will be guided by the Reason and not by the ratings while making important policy decisions this might let people change the situation for better.
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