Diogenes
Nemo me impune lacessit
What did he find?
That sexual debauchery appeared to have led to the collapse of civilizations within three generations.
Unwin defined four categories of cultures.
Each was differentiated by its pursuit of art, engineering, literature, agriculture, etc.
1. Dead - these cultures only focused on the day-to-day needs of life. They didn't care about higher questions and so did not progress.
2. Superstitious - these cultures developed beliefs that helped them explain the natural world. This was represented in their special treatment of the dead.
3. Deistic - characterized by belief in gods or a god. This required more imagination and higher-order thinking
4. Rationalistic - characterized by rational thinking. This was the category with the longest longevity.
Unwin's two categories of sexual ethics and restraint were as follows:
- Prenuptial - this was measured on a scale from complete sexual freedom to "remain a virgin until married."
- Postnuptial - how easy was it to get a divorce? How many wives could a man have? How faithful were the women expected to be?
Next, Unwin defined sexual ethics and restraint into two categories.
The single most influential factor in each civilization's longevity and success was prenuptial chastity.
If people were expected to remain virgins until marriage, the culture was more likely to flourish. They were more likely to be an "advanced" civilization.
Prenuptial chastity combined with absolute monogamy scored the best (absolute monogamy means one spouse for life).
Why was prenuptial chastity found to be the most beneficial?
In cultures where virginity was no longer expected, within three generations, the following disappeared:
- absolute monogamy
- deism
- rational thinking
Without prenuptial chastity, civilizations regressed into the "dead" category as the people become interested primarily in their immediate wants and needs.
In the West, the sexual revolution started in the late 1960's. Three generations (~40 years each) = the 2070s.
Are we on the way to collapse?
Unwin: "Any human society is free to choose either to display great energy or to enjoy sexual freedom; the evidence is that it cannot do both..."
J. D. Unwin - Wikipedia
