I am currently reading The Cave & The Light and looked up Mr Herman to get a better idea of his overall thinking outside of his writing. Not much online material, so thanks for posting! I do think decline is inevitable. One only just has to look at all of history. Ancient history in particular. Look at the Gobleki Tepe find (and it’s “sister sites”) for instance. We’re talking about a 12000 BC origin (at least right now LOL). What happened there? It’s not pessimistic to foresee decline, so much as reality IMO. Look at the change of seasons - something most people don’t actually think about but which happens every year. Unfortunately, most folks want a tight straightforward story, more akin to reading great fiction, as opposed to all those annoying but important footnotes in non-fiction! The foundational problem seems to be an inability, across many if not all cultures, to deal with death and endings overall. Speaking of the French, I am immediately reminded of the situation in France right now, with so many educated young people (having completed degrees in finance , medicine, and law) who are unable to find work, even outside of France. It’s a mess. Why the poor concern with the future of their youth? Shameful. So much for the French ideas of post-modernism especially Foucault & Derrida. They asked the right questions, but their answers/solutions have led to a dumbing down of education, especially here in the US. Allan Bloom called it in 1987 with The Closing of the American Mind. Nietzsche is greatly misunderstood IMO, and excepting a few of us, most people have no clue about him. It’s unfortunate that most youth today listening to Jordan Peterson, for instance, will likely never get to actually read and process Nietzsche on their own whilst their ability to survive is at stake. I wish I had a deep reading knowledge of German, since only Jung’s perspective on him comes close to a clearer perspective IMO, especially in his Zarathustra lectures, and I am still seeking to understand how his mental breakdown manifested in his later works. Ultimately, Jung said Nietzsche was talking about Wotan and not Dionysus, and foresaw the rise of coming the Nazis. But Jung remains problematic, doesn’t he? The Anti-Semitism discussion on Chamberlain is interesting, and one I wasn’t aware of. But isn’t the anti-semitism of the world based on blame for the death of Jesus as promulgated by the Church since the rise of Christianity, something which was sowed very early on? Ironically, on the surface of it, Christianity is the triumphal Jewish sect of the first millennia, a response to dogmatic priestly thought (Matthew 6 anyone?). Similar in my mind to the Sunna & Shia split, among others, within Islam, as well as the further development of Christianity into Protestantism and all those sects! Not as clear cut as many “historians” would have us believe. I wish there was more individual agency, BUT here I am obviously a pessimist, based on my own experience. I don’t see a realistic way forward especially given the current politics (both in the world and here in the USA). As for “Degeneration” we can go much further back , to Seneca and Cicero, so that has always been a dominant issue completely in line with what I said about Death above. And easier to read. I will certainly pick this one initial book up and read after The Cave & The Light. Thanks Again!
Great interview. I'd love to hear if Herman has changed his opinion on the declinist and determinist psychometric/IQ research popularized by intellectuals like Charles Murray. It seems their case--unlike those of say Marxists and post-modernists--becomes stronger by the day.
![[Full Episode] MasterChef Junior Thailand มาสเตอร์เชฟ จูเนียร์ ประเทศไทย Season 3 Episode 13](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NlY2uzrALY8/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you very much for sharing.
I am currently reading The Cave & The Light and looked up Mr Herman to get a better idea of his overall thinking outside of his writing. Not much online material, so thanks for posting!
I do think decline is inevitable. One only just has to look at all of history. Ancient history in particular. Look at the Gobleki Tepe find (and it’s “sister sites”) for instance. We’re talking about a 12000 BC origin (at least right now LOL). What happened there? It’s not pessimistic to foresee decline, so much as reality IMO. Look at the change of seasons - something most people don’t actually think about but which happens every year. Unfortunately, most folks want a tight straightforward story, more akin to reading great fiction, as opposed to all those annoying but important footnotes in non-fiction! The foundational problem seems to be an inability, across many if not all cultures, to deal with death and endings overall.
Speaking of the French, I am immediately reminded of the situation in France right now, with so many educated young people (having completed degrees in finance , medicine, and law) who are unable to find work, even outside of France. It’s a mess. Why the poor concern with the future of their youth? Shameful. So much for the French ideas of post-modernism especially Foucault & Derrida. They asked the right questions, but their answers/solutions have led to a dumbing down of education, especially here in the US. Allan Bloom called it in 1987 with The Closing of the American Mind.
Nietzsche is greatly misunderstood IMO, and excepting a few of us, most people have no clue about him. It’s unfortunate that most youth today listening to Jordan Peterson, for instance, will likely never get to actually read and process Nietzsche on their own whilst their ability to survive is at stake. I wish I had a deep reading knowledge of German, since only Jung’s perspective on him comes close to a clearer perspective IMO, especially in his Zarathustra lectures, and I am still seeking to understand how his mental breakdown manifested in his later works. Ultimately, Jung said Nietzsche was talking about Wotan and not Dionysus, and foresaw the rise of coming the Nazis. But Jung remains problematic, doesn’t he?
The Anti-Semitism discussion on Chamberlain is interesting, and one I wasn’t aware of. But isn’t the anti-semitism of the world based on blame for the death of Jesus as promulgated by the Church since the rise of Christianity, something which was sowed very early on? Ironically, on the surface of it, Christianity is the triumphal Jewish sect of the first millennia, a response to dogmatic priestly thought (Matthew 6 anyone?). Similar in my mind to the Sunna & Shia split, among others, within Islam, as well as the further development of Christianity into Protestantism and all those sects! Not as clear cut as many “historians” would have us believe.
I wish there was more individual agency, BUT here I am obviously a pessimist, based on my own experience. I don’t see a realistic way forward especially given the current politics (both in the world and here in the USA).
As for “Degeneration” we can go much further back , to Seneca and Cicero, so that has always been a dominant issue completely in line with what I said about Death above. And easier to read.
I will certainly pick this one initial book up and read after The Cave & The Light.
Thanks Again!
Great interview. I'd love to hear if Herman has changed his opinion on the declinist and determinist psychometric/IQ research popularized by intellectuals like Charles Murray. It seems their case--unlike those of say Marxists and post-modernists--becomes stronger by the day.
Oswald Spangler predicted the imminent decline 100 years ago. He missed it. But then again Rome's decline took 1000 years.
It would have some relation to Apocalypticism from Christianity and Judaism.
20:00 absolutely ridiculous people with superficial understanding lol
The dinosaurs probably saw the rise of mammals as a decline.