Vibrant cultures draw on the dynamism of innovation and creativity, but they decline through stagnation, forms of which we have been facing in recent years: deceleration of technological innovation, prospects of slowed economic growth, and a generalized cultural malaise or decadence. This seminar examines this problem and asks about antidotes, wether as progress, renaissance or disruption.
1 - OUR PRESENT DECADENCE:
Leo Strauss, The City and Man, Introduction
p 1-12
Ross Douthat, The Decadent Society, entire
2 - DECLINE:
Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, abridged edition, selections
p 3-114; 176-225; 245-254; 360-415
3 - SCIENCE:
Francis Bacon, New Atlantis, entire
p 63-111
Derek de Solla Prince, Science since Babylon, entire
4 - TECHNOLOGY:
Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atom Bomb, selections
p 13-28; 104-197; 279-317; 443-485; 617-678
Film: The Right Stuff
5 - FEAR:
Soencer Weart, The Rise of Nuclear Fear, entire
René Girard, "Hamlet's Dull Revenge" from Theater of Envy
p 271-289
Film: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
6 - COUNTERCULTURE:
Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, title essay
p 84-128
Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, entire
Film: Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
7 - STAGNATION I: JOURNALISTIC ACCOUNTS
Christopher Caldwell, the Age of Entitlement,
p 3-279
Camile Paglia, Provocations, selections
p 465-480
8 - STAGNATION II: THEORETICAL AND NOVELISTIC ACCOUNTS
Carl Schmitt, The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, entire
Michel Houllebecq, Submission, entire
9 THE CASE AGAINST GROWTH:
Dietrich Vollrath, Fully Grown, entire
Donella Meadows et al., The Limits to Growth, selections
p 45-155
10 WAYS OUT?:
Ernst Juenger, The Forest Passage, entire
Henry George, Progress and Poverty, entire
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