The ground plan of the Museum of Civilisation, Quebec
WHY DO CIVILISATIONS DECLINE AND FALL?
Brooks Adams was a historian who influences Western leaders
The Western world is such an enormous influence on the whole of humanity that it behoves us to examine, if we can, the major sources of inspiration that guide the thinking and conduct of this most potent entity.
For that reason, for example, it is doubtless wise to read through Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad because those two long poems are reputedly the very foundations of Western civilisation. The Old and New Testaments should be read too – at least once in a lifetime - because Christianity has such a powerful grip on the background of the consciousnesses of the Europeans who have dealings with us.
For that reason too I submit that South Asians should not ignore the name of Brooks Adams. However, I will come back to him a bit later.
You know, I remember that when I visited Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park on Sunday afternoons more frequently than I do now there was an Asian orator called Roy Saw who never failed to get a tremendous gathering around his stepladder. Alas, he is not to be seen in Hyde Park any longer. I wonder, what has become of him?
Roy Saw had several favourite topics upon which he dwelt. One of these was the matter of the rise and fall of civilisations. He used to declaim: “Egypt was great. Egypt fell. Greece was great. Greece fell. Rome was great. Rome fell. The British Empire was great. The British Empire fell. Are you trying to tell me that America is great and America won’t fall?” At this point in time there was usually some tittering and laughter amongst the multicultural crowd.
Well, amusement on Sunday afternoons in Hyde Park, when one has nothing else to do, is one thing. The governance and guiding of the world is something else.
Before I enter into my principal points may I ask you, have you noticed that almost all the major issues on the planet have a financial nexus? Almost every political controversy in every country in the world is either about or closely linked with money. It seems that abundance of money spells happiness and joy and that a dearth of this substance is nothing short of a recipe for misery and despond. Nothing else, it seems, matters so much.
Even in matters of health the rich man can afford to use private medicine and get seen straight away by the consultant of his choice while the poor man has to wait until a taxpayer paid doctor gets around to seeing him, and he has little say over which doctor.
In the law courts the rich man can afford to use extremely expensive lawyers the very names of whom so impress the judge and jury members that favourable outcomes are much more likely. The poor man has to rely on legal aid, which is only discretionally awarded, and it is usually only non high-fliers among the lawyers and new lawyers who are participants in legal aid schemes.
In human relations money plays an enormous part. In our South Asian cultures, a man’s financial standing and earnings prospects are frequently the only significant criteria which govern who he gets married to, if he is inclined to marry.
In international relations international finance is a key factor governing the fate of nations. The various Arab-Israeli wars are the only major recent conflicts that I can think of that were not primarily dictated by money. The 1917 and 1990 Russian revolutions, the two world wars, the Vietnam war, the Gulf wars and the possible future war with Iran all have or had economic bearings. In the case of the future fight with Iran, if it takes place, that will have a great deal to do with oil (“black gold”) and how far the non-Western, non-first world nations can control their own resources and affairs, particularly in pecuniary matters.
It was not always so. Going back centuries, one sees that matters concerning religion, culture, language, “living space”, racial identity and philosophy dominated human life.
The Norman invasion of England in 1066, for example, was not primarily about money. That quarrel was concerned with loyalty to the Pope, oath breaking, birthright, race and land. In those distant days it seems that money was put in its place as a mere medium of exchange.
As Roy Saw correctly observed, the United States of America is presently the “top dog” in international affairs in most senses of the phrase. As previous “top dogs” have come and gone it is not surprising that American leaders and academics are highly concerned with the mechanics and the causations that are involved in the rises and falls of civilisations.
None of the major philosophers and savants appear to address this most important subject directly – except one. Frequently, writers and teachers promote some religion, self-improvement method, social system or lifestyle as the answer to the problem of the impending doom of the prevailing civilisation.
For example, during the later history of the Roman Empire, it was put about that power had been there during pagan times and had departed after Christianity became the dominant religion. Therefore, a return to the traditional Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses must, they argued, bring about Roman omnipotence again. Several emperors tried that but failed to stem the advancing tide of social and military decline.
It is not generally put about that, on the quiet, a major source of inspiration for Western leaders is the writer Brooks Adams – an American. He has been studied by many American presidents during their young days and by other major figures in Western power circles but news of him rarely percolates to the third world.
In a nutshell, what Adams taught was that civilisations rise and fall in inexorable cycles and that these cycles can be observed and studied by those inclined to do that.
In the early stages of a civilisation, he teaches, a culture which is on the rise, there is a type of leader who is categorised as “spiritual man” exemplified by the yeomen of England, Brutus the early consul of the Roman Republic and George Washington. Such men are imbued with a spiritual fervour which transcends material considerations and are virtually incorruptible. Thus, George Washington would have (most probably) laughed to scorn an offer of a British peerage if he would stop promoting the pernicious and rebellious idea of the North American colonies revolting against the Crown.
When a society is directed by such men it is invariably on the rise, Adams taught.
The later stages of a civilisation, the declining years, he taught, are dominated by another kind of individual. This species of person he called “economic man.” The Roman businessmen who contracted to put on bread and circuses for the multitudes in return for riches, the Indian nabobs and maharajas who agreed to hand over to the colonising power without fighting in return for economic privileges, the present day Middle Eastern leaders who are guided solely by money in their policy making are all, arguably, examples of “economic man” and, according to Adams’ hypothesis, are causes and symptoms of social decay.
Take the institution of British knighthoods, for example. The tradition of awarding knighthoods arose because it was a form of public recognition of bravery in battle against the king’s enemies. It was a reward for valour and for loyalty. A brave poor man in the earliest days could qualify for a knighthood as much as a rich merchant who happened to be in the army. Gradually, knighthoods were given for “carpet consideration” until, now, almost all investitures are ceremonies of recognition for socially acceptable economic success.
Brooks Adams was definitely of the genetic and cultural stock of which leadership and influence are made. His great grandfather and grandfather were presidents of the USA. Born on 24 June, 1848 and changing worlds on 13 February, 1927, he graduated from Harvard College in 1870 and became a lawyer and a investigative historian before he turned to university lecturing and writing. He wrote the essay The Law of Civilisation and Decay in 1895.
The racist agitator William Pierce said: “ Brooks saw two types of man: the type he described as spiritual man, typified by the farmer-warrior-poet-priest; and the type he called economic man, typified by the merchant and the bureaucrat. I believe that Brooks must have known a different breed of priests than those I am familiar with. He was thinking of Martin Luther and Giordano Bruno, not Billy Graham and John Paul II.
“He saw spiritual man as having the leading role in the building of a civilization, with the economic men coming out of the woodwork and assuming the dominant role after the civilization had peaked and was in the process of decay. Spiritual men are those with vision and daring and a close connection to their roots, their spiritual sources. Economic men are those who know how to calculate the odds and evaluate an opportunity, but who have cut themselves loose from their spiritual roots and become cosmopolitans, to the extent that that offers an economic advantage. The spirit of adventure and the current of idealism run strong in spiritual men; economic men, on the other hand, are materialists.”
In our thinking, therefore, let us remember Brooks Adams.
WHY DO CIVILISATIONS DECLINE AND FALL?
Brooks Adams was a historian who influences Western leaders
The Western world is such an enormous influence on the whole of humanity that it behoves us to examine, if we can, the major sources of inspiration that guide the thinking and conduct of this most potent entity.
For that reason, for example, it is doubtless wise to read through Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad because those two long poems are reputedly the very foundations of Western civilisation. The Old and New Testaments should be read too – at least once in a lifetime - because Christianity has such a powerful grip on the background of the consciousnesses of the Europeans who have dealings with us.
For that reason too I submit that South Asians should not ignore the name of Brooks Adams. However, I will come back to him a bit later.
You know, I remember that when I visited Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park on Sunday afternoons more frequently than I do now there was an Asian orator called Roy Saw who never failed to get a tremendous gathering around his stepladder. Alas, he is not to be seen in Hyde Park any longer. I wonder, what has become of him?
Roy Saw had several favourite topics upon which he dwelt. One of these was the matter of the rise and fall of civilisations. He used to declaim: “Egypt was great. Egypt fell. Greece was great. Greece fell. Rome was great. Rome fell. The British Empire was great. The British Empire fell. Are you trying to tell me that America is great and America won’t fall?” At this point in time there was usually some tittering and laughter amongst the multicultural crowd.
Well, amusement on Sunday afternoons in Hyde Park, when one has nothing else to do, is one thing. The governance and guiding of the world is something else.
Before I enter into my principal points may I ask you, have you noticed that almost all the major issues on the planet have a financial nexus? Almost every political controversy in every country in the world is either about or closely linked with money. It seems that abundance of money spells happiness and joy and that a dearth of this substance is nothing short of a recipe for misery and despond. Nothing else, it seems, matters so much.
Even in matters of health the rich man can afford to use private medicine and get seen straight away by the consultant of his choice while the poor man has to wait until a taxpayer paid doctor gets around to seeing him, and he has little say over which doctor.
In the law courts the rich man can afford to use extremely expensive lawyers the very names of whom so impress the judge and jury members that favourable outcomes are much more likely. The poor man has to rely on legal aid, which is only discretionally awarded, and it is usually only non high-fliers among the lawyers and new lawyers who are participants in legal aid schemes.
In human relations money plays an enormous part. In our South Asian cultures, a man’s financial standing and earnings prospects are frequently the only significant criteria which govern who he gets married to, if he is inclined to marry.
In international relations international finance is a key factor governing the fate of nations. The various Arab-Israeli wars are the only major recent conflicts that I can think of that were not primarily dictated by money. The 1917 and 1990 Russian revolutions, the two world wars, the Vietnam war, the Gulf wars and the possible future war with Iran all have or had economic bearings. In the case of the future fight with Iran, if it takes place, that will have a great deal to do with oil (“black gold”) and how far the non-Western, non-first world nations can control their own resources and affairs, particularly in pecuniary matters.
It was not always so. Going back centuries, one sees that matters concerning religion, culture, language, “living space”, racial identity and philosophy dominated human life.
The Norman invasion of England in 1066, for example, was not primarily about money. That quarrel was concerned with loyalty to the Pope, oath breaking, birthright, race and land. In those distant days it seems that money was put in its place as a mere medium of exchange.
As Roy Saw correctly observed, the United States of America is presently the “top dog” in international affairs in most senses of the phrase. As previous “top dogs” have come and gone it is not surprising that American leaders and academics are highly concerned with the mechanics and the causations that are involved in the rises and falls of civilisations.
None of the major philosophers and savants appear to address this most important subject directly – except one. Frequently, writers and teachers promote some religion, self-improvement method, social system or lifestyle as the answer to the problem of the impending doom of the prevailing civilisation.
For example, during the later history of the Roman Empire, it was put about that power had been there during pagan times and had departed after Christianity became the dominant religion. Therefore, a return to the traditional Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses must, they argued, bring about Roman omnipotence again. Several emperors tried that but failed to stem the advancing tide of social and military decline.
It is not generally put about that, on the quiet, a major source of inspiration for Western leaders is the writer Brooks Adams – an American. He has been studied by many American presidents during their young days and by other major figures in Western power circles but news of him rarely percolates to the third world.
In a nutshell, what Adams taught was that civilisations rise and fall in inexorable cycles and that these cycles can be observed and studied by those inclined to do that.
In the early stages of a civilisation, he teaches, a culture which is on the rise, there is a type of leader who is categorised as “spiritual man” exemplified by the yeomen of England, Brutus the early consul of the Roman Republic and George Washington. Such men are imbued with a spiritual fervour which transcends material considerations and are virtually incorruptible. Thus, George Washington would have (most probably) laughed to scorn an offer of a British peerage if he would stop promoting the pernicious and rebellious idea of the North American colonies revolting against the Crown.
When a society is directed by such men it is invariably on the rise, Adams taught.
The later stages of a civilisation, the declining years, he taught, are dominated by another kind of individual. This species of person he called “economic man.” The Roman businessmen who contracted to put on bread and circuses for the multitudes in return for riches, the Indian nabobs and maharajas who agreed to hand over to the colonising power without fighting in return for economic privileges, the present day Middle Eastern leaders who are guided solely by money in their policy making are all, arguably, examples of “economic man” and, according to Adams’ hypothesis, are causes and symptoms of social decay.
Take the institution of British knighthoods, for example. The tradition of awarding knighthoods arose because it was a form of public recognition of bravery in battle against the king’s enemies. It was a reward for valour and for loyalty. A brave poor man in the earliest days could qualify for a knighthood as much as a rich merchant who happened to be in the army. Gradually, knighthoods were given for “carpet consideration” until, now, almost all investitures are ceremonies of recognition for socially acceptable economic success.
Brooks Adams was definitely of the genetic and cultural stock of which leadership and influence are made. His great grandfather and grandfather were presidents of the USA. Born on 24 June, 1848 and changing worlds on 13 February, 1927, he graduated from Harvard College in 1870 and became a lawyer and a investigative historian before he turned to university lecturing and writing. He wrote the essay The Law of Civilisation and Decay in 1895.
The racist agitator William Pierce said: “ Brooks saw two types of man: the type he described as spiritual man, typified by the farmer-warrior-poet-priest; and the type he called economic man, typified by the merchant and the bureaucrat. I believe that Brooks must have known a different breed of priests than those I am familiar with. He was thinking of Martin Luther and Giordano Bruno, not Billy Graham and John Paul II.
“He saw spiritual man as having the leading role in the building of a civilization, with the economic men coming out of the woodwork and assuming the dominant role after the civilization had peaked and was in the process of decay. Spiritual men are those with vision and daring and a close connection to their roots, their spiritual sources. Economic men are those who know how to calculate the odds and evaluate an opportunity, but who have cut themselves loose from their spiritual roots and become cosmopolitans, to the extent that that offers an economic advantage. The spirit of adventure and the current of idealism run strong in spiritual men; economic men, on the other hand, are materialists.”
In our thinking, therefore, let us remember Brooks Adams.
THE END
This article was published in the Bangla Mirror, the first English language newspaper for the United Kingdom's Bangladeshis - read all over the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
posted by Ali @ 2:04 PM
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