This paper explains that the author chose different
turning points, moving away from victories on the battle-fields or conquests
of uncharted territories to persons whose life's work moved forward the essential difference that separates man from lower orders of animals: Thought and reasoning. The author points out that, in the Hellenic Age of philosophy and art, when the mind for the first time in recorded history developed the first formation of moral and ethical standards, Plato and the advent of Christianity through Jesus were
selected. The paper also selected as the
turning points, in the Dark Ages, the adventurous merchant, son of Venetian merchants, Marco Polo; in the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci; in the Reformation, Martin Luther and, in Age of Enlightenment; Thomas Jefferson. Table of Contents Two Turning Points in Western Civilization: Greece and Rome Two Turning Points: The Era of the Dark Ages to the Renaissance Two Turning Points: Reformation and Enlightenment Some Conclusions Concerning the Various Turning Points