The history of Western civilization can be described (in a sketchy manner) in terms of the prominence of one or the other of two world-views: the Aristotelian view, based on reason; and the Platonic world-view, based on faith. Aristotle's influence was soon overwhelmed by the renewed forces of mysticism and statism in the Roman empire, leading to a hiatus of civilization and the ascendancy of barbarism. The ensuing Dark Ages were marked by feudal force and religious wars, poverty, and disease; the pursuit of human welfare in this world was shunned in favor of a mystical "other world," deriving in part from Plato. (Ironically, during this period Arabic civilization, which then embraced Aristotle, flourished.) In the twelfth century the reintroduction of Aristotle into Europe ushered in a resurgence of reason, followed by the Renaissance—which extolled the "humanist" idea that humans should exist for their own sake—and the Enlightenment. This trend culminated in the Industrial Revolution, which (though maligned today) brought unprecedented material prosperity to the masses of humanity.