The word classical has several meanings:
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Culture
- Classical antiquity and the study of "the classics", refers to the culture of Ancient Greece or Rome
- "Classical Chinese" or "classical Indian" culture refers to a perceived apex in the development of a society or of its arts and sciences
- "Classical French" culture refers specifically to the 18th century, rather than Ancient Greece or Rome. This causes confusions in translation.
- Classicism can be understood as defining and long-lasting civilizational patterns shaped by belief systems.
- Classical language
The arts
Pertaining to the arts (painting, music, literature, etc.), the word classical often refers to a specific time period or artistic style:
- Classical architecture originated from Roman and Greek construction methods, which were later used as a model for "neo–" and "revival" architectural styles
- Classical music
- Classical music era
- Classical dance, or ballet
- Classicism
- Classical education refers to the educational tradition based upon the trivium and quadrivium.
- Classical philosophy
- Indian classical music
- Classical Indian dance
- Classical liberalism
- Non-Western classical music
Science
The word 'classical' is applied to any mode of scientific thought prevalent up to the time of some radical new innovation, or any scientific area of study that has well established roots, typically pre-nineteenth century.
- Classical mechanics, in physics, as founded by e.g. Galilei, Newton and formalized by Hamilton and Lagrange (developed before the advent of modern quantum mechanics) (see also the page about classical physics)
- The theory of relativity is usually considered as a "classical" theory, reconciling general relativity (the "last word " in classical physics) with quantum mechanics
- Semiclassical physics, an approximate solution to a problem generated by assuming that for parts of the system, the results of classical physics does not differ too much from that of the quantum mechanics method
- Classical electrodynamics, as formalized by Maxwell
- Classical logic, in mathematical logic includes the family of bivalent logics where every proposition is either true or false. Many non-classical logics exist, the most notable of which is intuitionistic logic
- "Classical control theory" applies control theory to analog systems. Based on classical math methods such as Laplace transforms and calculus, as opposed to the more recent digital control systems theory - based on more modern methods such as the z transforms.
- Classical economics is the school of the first economists starting with Adam Smith. Its modern successor is neoclassical economics
