Damned but invigorated: "Prophets of Doom"

Further reflections on a new book on cyclical histories - from Vico, through Spengler and Evola, to modern day...

In a review of Dr Neema Parvini’s Prophets of Doom (5 September 2023, Imprint Academic), which can be found in Bournbrook Magazine here [when live, to be added soon], I outline the essential concepts raised. Here I intend to touch on issues that fell outside the scope of that straightforward review. In short, thinkers Giambattista Vico, Thomas Carlyle, Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee, Arthur de Gobineau, Brooks Adams, Julius Evola, John Bagot Glubb, Pitirim Sorokin, Joseph Tainter and Peter Turchin set out the cyclical nature of history, undercutting the narrative of linear history, which progresses  towards perfection through incremental improvements in technology, science, human rights and managed risk. That is the liberalist political project that was established by the Enlightenment, re-enforced by the materialism of the scientific method and bolstered by the linearism of Christianity, which has led us to the perilous and degrading situation within which we find ourselves.