Oswald Spengler and the Politics of Decline
Title | Oswald Spengler and the Politics of Decline PDF eBook |
Author | Ben Lewis |
Publisher | Berghahn Books |
Total Pages | 211 |
Release | 2022-07-08 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1800735758 |
Oswald Spengler was one of the most important thinkers of the Weimar Republic, but very little has been published on his politics, philosophy and life, especially in the English-language.Oswald Spengler and the Politics of Decline transforms the pre-existing picture of Spengler by demonstrating how Spengler’s radical opposition to liberal democracy was an unwavering facet of his thought from 1918 onwards. It adopts a completely novel approach by placing a new emphasis on his political activities and writings, and is unique in explaining the interplay between Spengler’s meta-historical considerations on world history and the practical demands of Realpolitik throughout the complex discourse of German national renewal.
Prophet of Decline
Title | Prophet of Decline PDF eBook |
Author | John Farrenkopf |
Publisher | LSU Press |
Total Pages | 332 |
Release | 2001-06-01 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 9780807127278 |
Oswald Spengler (1880--1936) is best known for The Decline of the West, in which he propounded his pathbreaking philosophy of world history and penetrating diagnosis of the crisis of modernity. This monumental work launched a seminal attack on the idea of progress and supplanted the outmoded Eurocentric understanding of history. His provocative pessimism seems to be confirmed in retrospect by the twentieth-century horrors of economic depression, totalitarianism, genocide, the dawn of the nuclear age, and the emerging global environmental crisis. In Prophet of Decline, John Farrenkopf takes advantage of the historical perspective the end of the millennium provides to reassess this visionary thinker and his challenging ideas on world history and politics and modern civilization. Farrenkopf's assessment ranges widely, placing Spengler's philosophy in its intellectual historical context and covering Spengler's ideas on democracy, capitalism, science and technology, cities, Western art, social change, and human exploitation of the environment. He also illuminates the implications of Spengler's thought for contemplating from a fresh perspective the future of the United States, the leading power of the West. Prophet of Decline is highly relevant today as many take the opportunity at the turn of the century to ponder again the direction in which humankind and our global community are moving and approach with concern the uncertain future amid globalization, hypercomplexity, and accelerating change. An interdisciplinary book about an interdisciplinary thinker, it is a substantial contribution to the literature of historical philosophy, political science, international relations, and German studies.
The Decline of the West
Title | The Decline of the West PDF eBook |
Author | Oswald Spengler |
Publisher | Oxford University Press, USA |
Total Pages | 500 |
Release | 1991 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780195066340 |
Spengler's work describes how we have entered into a centuries-long "world-historical" phase comparable to late antiquity, and his controversial ideas spark debate over the meaning of historiography.
Oswald Spengler and the Politics of Decline
Title | Oswald Spengler and the Politics of Decline PDF eBook |
Author | Benjamin Joseph Lewis |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | |
Release | 2019 |
Genre | |
ISBN |
The Decline of the West, Two Volumes in One
Title | The Decline of the West, Two Volumes in One PDF eBook |
Author | Oswald Spengler |
Publisher | Cosimo Classics |
Total Pages | 1020 |
Release | 2020-12-09 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9781646791613 |
The Decline of the West by German historian Oswald Spengler, originally published in German as Der Untergang des Abendlandes (Vols. I and II in resp. 1918 and 1922), became an instant success in Germany after its defeat in World War I.
Oswald Spengler
Title | Oswald Spengler PDF eBook |
Author | H. Stuart Hughes |
Publisher | Transaction Publishers |
Total Pages | 208 |
Release | 1991-01-01 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 9781412830348 |
Since its publication in 1918, Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West has been the object of academic controversy and opprobrium. In their efforts to dispose of it, scholars have resorted to a variety of tactics: bitter invective, icy scorn, urbane mockery, or simply pretending that the book is not there. Yet generations of readers have refused to be warned off, finding in Spengler a prophetic voice and a source of profound intellectual excitement. H. Stuart Hughes's Oswald Spengler offers a judicious and objective reading of Spengler's works that admirably fills the gap between hypercritical invective and naïve enthusiasm. This pioneering volume makes clear why Spengler's pessimistic reading of the fate of European civilization continues to resonate with contemporary anxieties. Despite the author's self-imposed intellectual and social isolation, Spengler's work was as Hughes demonstrates, a part of the enormous effort of intellectual reevaluation that has characterized the early twentieth century. Viewing Spengler in the broadest possible perspective, the author places his thought in its cultural relationship to that of such predecessors as Giambattista Vico, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Nikolai Danilevsky and contemporaries including Benedetto Croce, Henri Bergson, and Vilfredo Pareto. A chapter of Hughes's book is devoted to Spengler's influence on later cyclical thinkers such as Arnold Toynbee and Pitirim Sorokin. Another chapter clarifies the essentially antagonistic relationship between his thought and Nazi ideology. Throughout, Hughes is carefully attuned to the complex and often bewildering shifts of Spengler's ideas and manner, providing a unified picture of the sober historian; the lofty seer; the cool, detached observer; and the impassioned participant. In his introduction to this new edition, Hughes comments on the timeliness of Spengler's message with respect to technology and environmental issues and draws some unexpected and fascinating parallels between Spengler's thought and that of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Oswald Spengler offers an illuminating view of the achievements and limitations of one of the most influential and representative figures of the twentieth century. It will be of concern to intellectual historians, philosophers, political scientists, and sociologists.
Form and actuality
Title | Form and actuality PDF eBook |
Author | Oswald Spengler |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | 494 |
Release | 1926 |
Genre | Civilization |
ISBN |