Historical research is divided into thirteen parts, one obvious feature of which is that it takes history with theory and runs through the book with the historical view of cultural form. Toynbee started his argument from the process of the occurrence, growth, destruction, disintegration and death of major civilizations. He always expounds his views first, and then goes to great lengths to prove them with a lot of historical facts. He claimed that this was a tradition of British empiricism.

(1) "Unit" and "Mode" of Historical Research

Toynbee believes that the scope of historical research should not be limited to a nation-state or a certain era, but should take "society" as the basic research object. The so-called "society" is a self-contained "civilization", which refers to a specific group of people with the same culture or lifestyle. Religion is the carrier of civilization, and civilization is divided according to religion. Only by taking "civilization" as the basic unit of research can we grasp the track of human historical development.

After investigating the pre-civilization society, the author summarizes the characteristics of pre-civilization as follows: ① After a period of chaos, a unified empire (such as the Roman Empire) was established; ② Intermittent period; ③ Unified Church; ④ Great migration of barbarians. The great migration of the church and the nation is the product of the internal proletarians and external proletarians of a dying civilization.

On this basis, Toynbee believes that there have been more than 20 civilizations in human history, including Western Christian civilization, Orthodox civilization, Islamic civilization, Indian civilization and Far East civilization. In the twelfth volume "Reconsideration", he expanded the number of civilizations to 37, revised the early civilization model on the basis of Greek and Roman history, and put forward "Greek-China compound model" and "Jewish model".

(2) the origin, growth, decline and disintegration of civilization

Toynbee gave a unique explanation of the rise and fall of civilization from the "challenge-challenge" theory. He quoted a lot of historical facts in his book, criticized the theory of racial superiority and environmental determinism, and thought that human beings were able to create civilization not because of their racial superiority, nor because their living environment was comfortable and comfortable, but because they persisted in the face of severe challenges. Although Toynbee does not think that this is the only factor in the origin of civilization, he emphasizes that human response to the natural environment is a factor that transcends other factors. Toynbee appreciates China's theory of Yin and Yang in the Book of Changes, and thinks that history advances in the process of static and dynamic, and yin and yang alternate. In the face of challenges, people rise up and fight, and society turns from yin to yang, and civilization is produced in this static rotation.

The origin of civilization lies in successful battles, and the growth of civilization is no exception. The birth of a civilization shows that it has responded strongly to the initial challenges, but this does not mean that this civilization can grow naturally once and for all. The growth of civilization is like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat. Only by making the single movement of challenge-challenge a circular process can civilization grow smoothly, otherwise, civilization may encounter the fate of premature death or rigidity.

Toynbee pointed out that the symbol of the growth of civilization is the internal spiritual self-determination of civilization, not the external material expansion. The process of civilization growth seems to have conquered the external environment, but actually depends on the internal spiritual strength. Sometimes technological forces are developing, but civilization is still there, even in decline; Sometimes, the growth of technical strength is not obvious, but civilization is progressing. It can be seen that the measure of civilization growth is the degree of transition from material level to spiritual level. Civilization can flourish only when it challenges itself internally and meets the challenge.

(3) the connection of civilization in space and time

Toynbee believes that the origin, growth and decline stages of civilization can be studied independently; But in the final stage of disintegration, civilization is not a self-explanatory research object. It can be seen that it is logical to discuss the encounter and contact of different civilizations in depth.

Toynbee first studied the relationship between modern western civilization and other contemporary civilizations. The modern period of western social history can begin with two events, one before the end of15th century and the other after the beginning of16th century. The first thing is to master the technology of ocean navigation, and the second thing is the division of Christianity in the Middle Ages. The Reformation is a long-term evolution stage, which began in the13rd century, and was not completely completed in the17th century, but it has surpassed the generation that witnessed Columbus and da Gama's ocean voyage in time. Toynbee further traced the contact between medieval western civilization and its two hostile societies, then traced it back to the contact between ancient Greek society and various aspects, and finally briefly talked about the earlier situation of this contact.

(4) the prospect of western civilization

Toynbee believes that western society is the only civilization that has not obviously disintegrated. In many ways, western culture has spread all over the world, so its prospect is the prospect of a westernized world. There is no reason to think that western civilizations must be the same just because all other civilizations have been destroyed or are heading for destruction. Neither Victorian optimism nor Bingler's pessimism is convincing.

War and militarism are the most fundamental reasons for the decline of a society. So far, western society has not achieved success in fighting this disease, but it has made unprecedented achievements in other aspects, such as abolishing slavery, developing democracy and developing education. Western society is now divided into a few rulers, internal proletarians and external proletarians, but it has made some remarkable achievements in dealing with the complicated internal proletarians in the westernized world.

In the 20th century, there were wars and class conflicts, Malthusian population, employment and unemployment, and various problems brought by science and technology. The 20th century has passed the middle stage (when the author wrote this book-editor). Although we still can't know exactly how western civilization developed, there are some signs that human beings may hope to live happily forever, but it is still out of reach.