[kybernetikos]

This is the first post in a series, and in this post, he's focusing on culture, literature, language and religion. I would agree that the case he makes is that in these areas the "change and continuity" party seem to mainly carry the day against the "decline and fall" party, but that doesn't mean that there won't be areas where that isn't true. I think we should particularly wait for parts 2 (institutions) and 3 (economics and demographics) before we settle too firmly into our opinions.

From the article:

> As will readily be apparent, that significance of that division of topics will be important because this is one of those questions where what you see depends very much on where you look, with scholars engaging with different topics often coming to wildly divergent conclusions about the impact and experience of the fall of Rome. And there is no way to really discuss that divergence (and my own view of it) without diving into the still active debate and presenting the different scholarly views in a sort of duel. I’ll be providing my own judgements, of course, but I intend here to ‘steelman’ each argument, presenting it in what I view as its strongest form; as will some become evident, I think there is some truth to both of the two major current scholarly streams of thought here.