Even worse, Weber feared, "this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilisation never before achieved".
Abdullah Cevdet, one of the most radical thinkers of the late Ottoman Empire, asked despairingly "how long has it taken the western world to reach the level of civilisation that they now enjoy?
A particular attention was devoted to building roofs described not only as the last defining touch given to a building, the aesthetic conclusion to a whole construction process, but also as expression and sign of a society's level of civilisation, culture and technical skill.
Regulars and newbies all ensured that as far as possible a basic level of civilisation was maintained.
It's all relative of course and one man's basic level of civilisation is another man's drug-fuelled rollercoaster of mayhem, but the near-spotless record of Club Magnus says something about the good-naturedness to be found in the kind of people who really enjoy the disco.
All this layer of civilisation comes to nothing at ground level.
If you look at western European civilisation they are all societies where very high levels of culture have been accompanied by astounding levels of brutality.
Clear springs and hamlets pop out of what could be nowhere, but for the fact that even at 3,000 metres above sea level, the consumerist trappings of civilisation are kept alive through puffy bags of crisps and crates of soft drinks, sold alongside hot Darjeeling tea.
In the early 1990s he described himself as an "advocate of civilisation, definer of civilisation, teacher of the rules of civilisation…leader (possibly) of the civilising forces".
Surely, the end of civilisation.
