西方世界(英語:Western World),也称西方国家(Western Countries)、西方文化区、西洋[a],在不同场合和不同时间有不同定义,主要用來指稱歐洲、北美洲、澳大拉西亞國家。有時候也稱為西方文明(Occident,字源為拉丁語「occidens」),以與「東方文明」(Orient,字源為拉丁語「oriens」)或「東方世界」來對比。这些国家文化、文字皆是一脉相承,惟地理上不一定位於「西方」,例如澳大利亞、新西蘭。
西方的概念根源於希臘文明、古罗马及後來的基督教文化,經由文艺复兴、宗教改革、啟蒙時代、通過帝国主义、殖民主义、科學革命、工業革命擴張形成當今西方世界。冷战時期,西方的觀點確立於深受自由主義思想影響,反對共產主義资本主義國家,形成反共陣營,有別於政治經濟方面不同歐洲共產主義國家。這個詞原本字面意思是一個地理概念,15世紀以來西歐人相對於將看到西亚、南亚、东亚當作東方。在當代文化含義裡,這句西方世界除包括歐洲也包括歐洲殖民時期源自大量歐洲的祖先人口移民至北美洲、大洋洲國家。西方世界也是古代中国人以中国为中心一个地理概念,现代用法则与“西方世界”同义,明朝初期以婆罗洲中间为界,以东称为东洋,以西称为西洋,故过去所称南海之处,明朝称为东洋、西洋,且暹罗湾之海,称为“涨海”。
The origin of western civilization is usually dated to 700 or 800 AD. In general, researchers consider that it has three main components, in Europe, North America and Latin America. [...] However, Latin America has followed a quite different development path from Europe and North America. Although it is a scion of European civilization, it also incorporates, to varying degrees, elements of indigenous American civilizations, absent from North America and Europe. It has had a corporatist and authoritarian culture that Europe had to a much lesser extent and America did not have at all. Both Europe and North America felt the effects of the Reformation and combined Catholic and Protestant culture. Historically, Latin America has been only Catholic, although this may be changing. [...] Latin America could be considered, or a sub-civilization within Western civilization, or a separate civilization, intimately related to the West and divided as to its belonging to it.
取材自維基百科 - 中文時事百科