On decline: stagnation, nostalgia, and why every year is the worst one ever
In: Field notes #3
"'Twenty-volume folios will never make a revolution. It's the little pocket pamphlets that are to be feared.'--Voltaire. Popularized during the Restoration, the tradition of pamphleteering--the publication of inexpensive booklets grappling with issues of current interest--has shaped the world in innumerable ways. From Martin Luther's 95 Theses, to Voltaire's Treatise on Tolerance, to Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman, pamphlets have functioned as vehicles for writers and thinkers to address the pressing questions of their eras. In this spirit, Biblioasis is proud to present Field Notes, a new series of nonfiction titles exploring timely issues of public interest and featuring writers and thinkers from a range of disciplines: philosophy, public policy, history, economics, cultural criticism, and more. On Decline is #3 in this series. The first three installments address the COVID-19 crisis as we begin to come to terms with our rapidly changing world. On Decline is part comparative history, part philosophical inquiry, and part a critique of public policy failures exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Andrew Potter seeks to answer these questions: What if there is something to the notion of 'the decline of the West' after all? For all our enlightenment faith in reason and progress, there are structural features of our existence that raise the question of whether it's all just an extended dream. Has the COVID-19 pandemic finally snapped us out of it, and into the waking reality of a much poorer and less illusioned existence? Its main topics include Ethics, Moral Philosophy, Disasters & Disaster Relief, and Public Policy."--