Is there an objective measure of decadence?

Upvote:2

Short Answer:

The only way to mesure decadence is fail. However a non-decadent society, so the two parameters are not entirely linked.

Long Answer:

No, because a decadent society is not well defined: it consists in two things:

A society getting less focused on the initial values that it followed earlier
A society that gets more and more problem (eg: corruption, etc...)

So a decadent society is a variety of criteria, and those criteria are not objective: having numerous feasts is usually considered as a sign of decadence for Roma. But is it really "bad" to have feast? Does feasts destroy societies?

Most of the time in history, a society is said to be "decadent" by historians that know that this society later failed and was destroyed or suppressed (war, pandemic, revolution...). But this is not a scientific approach of the phenomenon.

totalMongot 6454

📝 Why were gravediggers, actors and former gladiators (but not slaves) banned from the Colosseum?
📝 Couldn't Japan have solved the problem of drifting at sea?
📝 What did Pol Pot expect to gain from his raid against Ba Chuc Vietnam in April 1978?
📝 Were US decision makers aware of the destructiveness of the Bomb of Nagasaki?
📝 What do we mean when we say history is a science?
📝 What was the state of the German rail system in 1944?
📝 Where can I find pictures of clothing of poor or common male European musicians between 1500 and 1700
📝 Why wasn't the Republic of Ireland invaded (by either side) in WW2?
📝 Language Grammar History
📝 Why did Napoleon change his mind and continue the attack into Russia?
📝 What sorts of people were popular celebrities in 17th to 19th century Europe?
📝 Why is Thailand considered an Axis power in WWII?
📝 How did Scipio Africanus recruit his army for Zama?
📝 How did ships in Britain's Grand Fleet avoid each other during maneuvers?
📝 Where can I find a reliable archive of Hitler's speeches?
📝 Why did native Americans and Europeans mix in South America but not in North America?
📝 Who was Woodburn Heron?
📝 Was Jesus unique from the point of view of contemporaries?
📝 Was there any separation between hunting bow technology and weapon bows?
📝 What was the official language used across European monarchies in the XII century?
📝 Did people from the cities of Uruk, Ur and Sumer have knowledge/recollection of how old their cities were (say, recollection after 2000 BCE)?
📝 Why did the United States drop a uranium bomb instead of a plutonium bomb on Hiroshima?
📝 When during their construction did Bible-era Jewish temples become "holy"?
📝 What is a "Johnsonian world of clubs and coffee houses" in the context of 18th century England?
📝 What was the process to join the army in WW2 England?
📝 Katabami mon (Japanese crests of wood sorrel) Crest family identity
📝 When did the Great Purge start?
📝 Are there any archeological finds or primary source drawings of the Chinese "blade shaped" bamboo-copter or rotary fans?
📝 Why did the French Army melt film during WWI?
📝 What did the people of the Middle Ages call their period?

Source: stackoverflow.com

Travel Tips

Search Posts

📝 Is there an objective measure of decadence?
📝 Are there ways to measure "how much power did "Russia" lose when the Soviet Union broke up?"
📝 Were there women who were against giving women the right to vote?
📝 What were paper airplanes called before there were real airplanes? (i.e. untethered winged flyers, not kites or balloons)
📝 Is there any evidence to support the claim that the United States was "suckered into WW1" by Zionists, made by Benjamin Freedman in his 1961 speech?
📝 Has there ever been a truly multi-sided war?
📝 Have there been any countries that voted themselves out of existence?
📝 Has there ever been a non-rectangular banknote?
📝 Are there any important biographies of nobodies?
📝 Why were there no internment camps for German-American citizens in USA during WW2?
📝 Has there ever been a case when a traitorous military commander took command again for the side he betrayed?
📝 Are there historical examples of audiences drawn to a work that was "so bad it's good"?
📝 Why were there no nuclear detonations in 1959?
📝 Are there confirmed cases where a country changed its language without being conquered?
📝 When did FDR announce he was running a 3rd time, and was there any outrage?
📝 Has there ever been an instance of an active nuclear power plant within or near a war zone?
📝 Has there ever been a cold war other than between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.?
📝 Was there ever a treaty between 2 entities with significantly different translations to the detriment of one party?
📝 (Why) are there two different versions of the photograph of inmates at the Buchenwald concentration camp?
📝 Why were there no religious wars in Poland?
📝 Were there U.S. weapon restrictions during 19th century?
📝 Was there a contingency plan in place if Little Boy failed to detonate?
📝 Are there any examples of technologies have been lost over time?
📝 Is there any proof that Robin Hood existed?
📝 Are there any accounts of everyday life during the Black Death?
📝 Why aren't there major cities on the Atlantic coast of France?
📝 In the "Christmas truce" of 1914 were there any football (soccer) matches between British and German troops?
📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
📝 Has there ever been a peaceful overthrow of a dictator or monarch?
📝 Is there any evidence of armies enrolling women in fighting roles in significant number in antiquity or the middle ages?

Is there an objective measure of decadence?

More post

Search Posts

Related post