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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