<Li> A tradition of the importance of the rule of law . </Li> <Li> Secular humanism, rationalism and Enlightenment thought . This set the basis for a new critical attitude and open questioning of religion, favouring freethinking and questioning of the church as an authority, which resulted in open - minded and reformist ideals inside, such as liberation theology, which partly adopted these currents, and secular and political tendencies such as laicism, agnosticism and atheism . </Li> <Li> Generalized usage of some form of the Latin or Greek alphabet, and derived forms, such as Cyrillic, used by those southern and eastern Slavic countries of Christian Orthodox tradition, historically under the Byzantine Empire and later within the Russian czarist or Soviet area of influence . Other variants of the Latin or Greek alphabets are found in the Gothic and Coptic alphabets, which historically superseded older scripts, such as runes, and the Egyptian Demotic and Hieroglyphic systems . </Li> <Li> Natural law, human rights, constitutionalism, parliamentarism (or presidentialism) and formal liberal democracy in recent times--prior to the 19th century, most Western governments were still monarchies . </Li>

Which major greek emphasis is still considered a cornerstone of western civilization