@icedquinn

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest 👇

“This, then, is our task. We #men of the #Western #culture are, with our historical sense, an exception and not a rule. World #history is our world #picture and not all mankind’s.”

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest

#Ancient #Egypt had a perception of their place in history superior to the Ancient Greeks. The Egyptians believe in the #immortality of the soul; they preserved the royal corpses for #millennia on end; they kept meticulous records of the names and years of their kings going back centuries.

Classical #Greece did none of this; nor did they even have a word in their vernacular for an “hour” or any other precise fraction of a day.

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest

This stands in contrast to Frederick the Great, who wrote his memoirs comparing the geopolitics of his contemporaries to the rise of Macedon during the career of Philip.

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest

Consider how Thucydides wrote, in the antiquities he authored, that nothing of note had transpired before his own lifetime!

Thucydides, as talented a general and statesman as he was, wrote only from the perspective of his own life experience; and the same was true for Polybius and Tacitus.

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest

“For whom is there history?”

Ancient man had no conception of the vastness of time, the significance of the past and its implications for the future.

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest

The key phrase is “the eyes by which and through which this world is realized”.

He seems be saying that a person who is alert to the spiritual forces behind history is equipped to leave a legacy; to act, in some small way, upon history, and not merely be acted upon by it.

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest

Here he finally gets to the meat of the argument: what precisely is the merit of the Taoist, Spiritualist view of historical unfoldings versus the rationalistic view? The difference between these two epistemologies seems to be an aspirational one. It’s a matter of ethos. He seems to be suggesting that one should strive to be the sort of person who views the world through the “idea of destiny”.

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest

“Mathematics and the principle of Causality lead to a naturalistic, Chronology and the idea of Destiny to a historical ordering of the phenomenal world. Both orderings, each on its own account, cover the whole world. The difference is only in the eyes by which and through which this world is realized.”

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler
#TheDeclineOfTheWest

“Such a ‘pragmatic’ handling of history would be nothing but a piece of ‘natural history’ in disguise.... What concerns us is not what the historical facts which appear at this or that time are, per se, but what they signify, what they point to, by appearing.”

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler

In #TheDeclineOfTheWest he seems to be saying that for living things, especially living things as timeless as nations and cultures, analogy is just as precise, just as accurate, just as truthful as mathematical reasoning - if not more so. He seems to be saying that nations and cultures can’t be understood through mathematical rigor. He will be redoubling emphasis on the shortfallings of scientific reasoning, soon.

He seems to believe that the maturity of West European-American culture is, in fact, prima facie evidence that autumn, and winter, is coming.

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler #TheDeclineOfTheWest

@ec670

#Oswald first started this work in the years leading up to the onset of #WWI. Here, he refers to the decline as “the still untraveled stages” of “West European-American” culture.

He says that West European-American culture is “the only Culture” that is “in the phase of fulfillment”. At that time, the West was the only culture in its summer period, in full bloom.

#Spengler #OswaldSpengler #TheDeclineOfTheWest

In #Spengler #OswaldSpengler #TheDeclineOfTheWest, cultures and civilizations are frequently described in seasonal terms, as being in their “spring”, “summer”, “autumn” or “winter”. Natural metaphors abound.

From the title of the work, one is prompted to ask, in what sense is the West in decline? The first paragraph here is a hint that the West was not, in fact, in a visible state of decline.

@jeffcliff

The reason I’m thinking about this just now is because in the opening pages of #Spengler #OswaldSpengler #TheDeclineOfTheWest , he seems to be admitting proudly that his view of history is mystical and anti-scientific. He is not interested in explaining history as a logical succession of tangible causes and effects; he instead seems to want to infer some hidden higher-order spiritual truths about history, which he believes actually drive history.

I’ll be commenting on this more.

This seems to be consistent with Spengler’s own views on history and the purpose for studying it. Spengler will later elaborate at length on how different nations and cultures recorded history from their own perspective - and why some nations had no recorded history at all. #Spengler #OswaldSpengler #TheDeclineOfTheWest

#Spengler #OscarSpengler #TheDeclineOfTheWest

The publisher’s #introduction seems to be suggesting that this work should not be evaluated on a pass-fail basis on predictions for the future; but rather as the zeitgeist of an era, and a expression of stoic resolve for facing difficult times.

#Spengler #OscarSpengler #TheDeclineOfTheWest

The publisher’s #introduction compares and contrasts Spengler’s philosophy against “A Study Of History” by Arthur J. Toynbee. The conclusion of Toynbee’s work seems to be that the West (and human civilization in general) is not in decline, but is continuously improving due to the spiritually enlightening influence of the Christian Gospel and others like it.

#Spengler #OscarSpengler #TheDeclineOfTheWest

At the time it was written, he considered #Japan to a #colored nation and a future rival to the West. (Remember that Japan was ally of the #BritishEmpire before siding with the Germans in #WWII)

He also believed that twentieth century technologies would be used to oppress the downtrodden working masses - and that colored nations would one day become technological superpowers rivaling the West.

He considered #Judaism, #Islam, #Byzantine civilization, as well is #Russia (ancient and contemporary Bolshevik era) as “Magian”. Of #America and #Americans, he considered us to be a mere economic power with no real culture to call our own. #Spengler #OscarSpengler #TheDeclineOfTheWest