Civilizational decay is reversible through intentional renewal

Evidence

The overriding lesson of the history of civilizations, however, is that many things are probable but nothing is inevitable. Civilizations can and have reformed and renewed themselves. The central issue for the West is whether, quite apart from any external challenges, it is capable of stopping and reversing the internal processes of decay. Can the West renew itself or will sustained internal rot simply accelerate its end and/or subordination to other economically and demographically more dynamic civilizations? — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 836

Categorization

• QUESTION: Huntington frames Western renewal as purely ‘internal’ — but his own theory elsewhere makes external challenge central. Worth probing the tension.
• XREF: Connects to Quigley’s civilizational life-cycle model and to Oswald Spengler’s decline thesis that Huntington is partially rejecting here. — connects to: Hyperreal civilization must recycle its own lost faculties and imaginary. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 52; Attempted revivals of past traditions accelerate their decay — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1454; Updating is reversible into downdating the present into the past — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 301 (+3 more)