Concept in Definition ABC

lilen gomez | Feb. 2022
Professor in Philosophy

The idea of ​​historical decadence

The concept of decadence as a characteristic of history is associated with a general theory about the meaning of time. Usually, this is underlain by a conception of history - typical of the thought Western—as ascending progress; so that, when this progress is not verified under the expected parameters, then it is considered as a historical decline.

Descriptions of periods of cultural "decline" can be traced as far back as ancient Greece, presented in opposition to an ideal of civilization. During the Middle Ages, the notion of time as linear progress is combined with the Christian teleological conception, which goes from the origin of history in Genesis to the Final Judgment. With modern empiricism and positivism, time is thought of in terms of a "universal history", by which societies are naturally ordered towards a higher degree of civilization. Thus, events that represented a "regression" in terms of such a scheme of progress were read as moments of "decline" or "fall"—such as the fall of the Roman Empire—rather than as a transformation of conditions historical.

The decline of civilization in Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The contractarian philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was one of the first authors to point out (in his Discourse on the origin and foundations of inequality among men) that decadence was not on the outside of civilization, ruining it from without, but contained its germ from the ground up. Western civilization has atrophied the natural capacities of man who, having been born free, lives chained by the chains imposed by civil society.

Society, founded on private property —which had been born from an original deception— turned man into a selfish, vain being, whose greed led him against his fellow man. That is to say, it made him a decadent being, who lost his freedom by tying himself to worldly goods and the need for recognition from others.

Metaphysics as decadence in the work of Friedrich Nietzsche

In its philosophy, F. Nietzsche (1844-1900) goes a step further than Rousseau's initial kick and points out that the metaphysics western is itself decadent, to the extent that the building moral that rests on it has the sole purpose of masking the oppression of the weak over the strong. The history of thought in the West had invented a conceptual framework, in order to establish a rational calculation in relation to the world, to dominate it.

Then, it is about a thought, a philosophy, a metaphysics or a moral, whose exercise threatens life itself, because it is simply a way of exercising power over it. Consequently, Western thought becomes decadent, because it operates on life always seeking to paralyze its future in order to have it under control and, thus, it becomes dying, sick.

Decadence as a class problem

In the work of Georg Lukács (1885-1971), the notion of decline appears specifically linked to the decline of a social class which, in turn, implies the decline of the time that class determines in its cultural forms. Lukács thinks the concept of decadence, then, in direct relation to literary practice, as well as to the theory of materialism historical. From this analysis, the romanticism It appears as the first expression of literary decadence, to the extent that the reflexivity of the poetic self prevails, in such a way that the individual is isolated from his context.

The decline is identified with the decline of bourgeois ideology, its development is, ultimately, the objective result of the division of society into classes.

Bibliographic references

- Sister. (1998) The idea of ​​decline in Western history. Barcelona, ​​Andres Bello.

- Salinas, M. (S/F) On the concept of decadence in Lukács. Chilean Archive.

- Fleisner, P. (2007) Of horned siegfrieds and infidel sorceresses. A look at Nietzsche's rejection of romanticism and his praise of Carmen. Moments and chances. Nietzschean writings, no. 4-5.