Thread: Reapeating History

Yeah, I am not so sure. I am by no stretch any kind of expert on history at all, but I do know a little bit about data and its interpretation (which I guess is all history is in the end).

Now I am not saying Rousseau's hypothesis is wrong, but I would like to know how he discounted other plausible hypotheses to come to his conclusions regarding this rather amorphous and subjective word "virtue", which surely must have different meanings depending on which cultural context you care to consider.

Why wouldn't an equally plausible hypothesis be that as each culture became "great", they also became targets of the lesser civilisations? After all, you don't get to the top without creating enemies. Concurrently, the increased wealth and power of that civilisation leads to a larger proportion of the populace being free to indulge in more esoteric pursuits like science and also becomming used to living the high life. In turn, this places pressure on those in charge to extend their reach in order to service the population's desires. And then, blammo! Target + stretched too thin leads to decline?

I don't know, I'm probably displaying my ignorance of these things more than anything else, but I still think there would be a lot more going on than a loss of "virtue" in explaining why a civilisation would decline.

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Yeah, I am not so sure. I am by no stretch any kind of expert on history at all, but I do know a little bit about data and its interpretation (which I guess is all history is in the end).

Now I am not saying Rousseau's hypothesis is wrong, but I would like to know how he discounted other plausible hypotheses to come to his conclusions regarding this rather amorphous and subjective word "virtue", which surely must have different meanings depending on which cultural context you care to consider.

Why wouldn't an equally plausible hypothesis be that as each culture became "great", they also became targets of the lesser civilisations? After all, you don't get to the top without creating enemies. Concurrently, the increased wealth and power of that civilisation leads to a larger proportion of the populace being free to indulge in more esoteric pursuits like science and also becomming used to living the high life. In turn, this places pressure on those in charge to extend their reach in order to service the population's desires. And then, blammo! Target + stretched too thin leads to decline?

I don't know, I'm probably displaying my ignorance of these things more than anything else, but I still think there would be a lot more going on than a loss of "virtue" in explaining why a civilisation would decline.

James.

James-
You've pretty well paraphrased Rousseau... Have you ever read his Discourses? If not (and this goes for everyone) I highly recommend them. They are brilliantly witty and easy to understand (very enjoyable!) and whether you agree with them or not they really will make you think.