He argues that "self-determining" [[civilization]]s are born (out of more primitive [[society|societies]]), not due to racial or environmental factors, but as a response to ''challenges'', such as hard country, new ground, blows and pressures from other civilizations, and penalizations. He argues that for civilizations to be born, the challenge must be a golden mean; that excessive challenge will crush the civilization, and too little challenge will cause it to stagnate. | He argues that "self-determining" [[civilization]]s are born (out of more primitive [[society|societies]]), not due to racial or environmental factors, but as a response to ''challenges'', such as hard country, new ground, blows and pressures from other civilizations, and penalizations. He argues that for civilizations to be born, the challenge must be a golden mean; that excessive challenge will crush the civilization, and too little challenge will cause it to stagnate. |