Oswald Spengler was an outstanding German historian and philosopher, whose expertise and knowledge covered mathematics, science, the theory of art and music. Spengler’s main and most important work is considered the two-volume “The Sunset of Europe, ” his other works were not popular outside of Germany.
The article below focuses on a bold and controversial work on historical and philosophical themes, which is “The Sunset of Europe”. Spengler outlined the summary in his own preface. However, on several pages it is impossible to contain the whole complex of ideas and terms that are of particular interest to modern history.
Oswald Spengler
Spengler survived the First World War, which greatly influenced his philosophical views and the theory of the development of cultures and civilizations that he formulated. The First World War forced to reconsider and partially rewrite the second volume of the main work, which Spengler had already completed at that time - “Sunset of Europe”. A brief summary of the two-volume, which he wrote in the preface to the second edition, shows how large-scale military operations and their consequences influenced the development of Spengler's theory.
Subsequent works of the philosopher focused on politics, in particular on nationalist and socialist ideals.
After the Nazi party came to power in Germany, the Nazis considered Spengler one of the supporters and propagandists of radical ideology. However, the subsequent evolution of the party and militaristic tendencies made Spengler doubt the future of not only the Nazis, but also Germany. In 1933, his book The Time of Decisions (or “The Years of Decisions”), which criticized the ideology of Nazism and the theory of racial superiority, was completely taken out of print.
"Sunset of Europe"
The first independent work of the historian and philosopher Oscar Spengler is his most popular, discussed and influential work.
Understanding the uniqueness and identity of cultures is one of the main topics of work that Oswald Spengler worked on for more than five years, “Sunset of Europe”. A brief summary of the two-volume book and an introduction written by the author to the second edition will help to deal with the difficultly formulated, complex Spengler theory.
The two-volume treatise touches on many topics and offers an absolute rethinking of how history is perceived in the modern world. According to the basic theory, it is wrong to perceive the development of the whole world from the point of view of the history of Europe, dividing the era into the ancient, medieval and new era. The Eurocentric scale of historical eras cannot correctly describe the emergence and formation of many eastern cultures.
Spengler, "Sunset of Europe." Summary of chapters. Volume One
Immediately after the publication of the book, the intellectual community of Germany was surprised. One of the most innovative and provocative works, offering an argumentative critical approach to the theory of cultural development, which was formulated by O. Spengler, is “Sunset of Europe”. A brief summary of the theory, which is included in the author's preface, almost completely focuses on the phenomenon of perception of history from the point of view of morphology, that is, the course and change.
"Sunset of Europe" consists of two volumes. The first volume is called “Form and Reality” (or “Image and Reality”) and consists of six chapters that outline the basics of Spengler's theory. The first chapter focuses on mathematics, the perception of numbers and how the concept of boundaries and infinity affects the perception of history and the development of cultures.
“Form and Reality” not only builds the foundation for a critical analysis of modern history studies, but also offers a new form of its perception. According to Spengler, ancient culture, with its scientific worldview, influenced the “naturalization” of history. Thanks to the ancient Greek knowledge of the world with the help of laws and rules, history turned into a science, with which Spengler categorically disagrees.
The philosopher insists that history should be perceived “analogously, ” that is, focus not on what has already been created, but on what is happening and is being created. That is why mathematics has such an important role to play. Spengler believes that with the advent of the concept of boundaries and infinity, man felt the importance of clear dates and structures.
"Sunset of Europe", a summary of the chapters. Volume Two
- History must be perceived morphologically.
- European culture has moved from a period of development (Culture) to an era of withering (Civilization).
This is precisely the two main points that Oswald Spengler puzzled his contemporaries. “The Sunset of Europe” (introduction, a brief summary of the work and critical articles on historical topics call the above-mentioned theses “cornerstones” of Spengler's theory) - a book that turned many things in the minds of philosophers.
The second volume is called “Perspectives on World History” (or “Views on World History”); in it, the author explains in more detail his theory of the development of various cultures.
According to the theory of the emergence and development of cultures, which was formulated by the author, each of them goes through its own life cycle, similar to human life. Each culture has a childhood, youth, maturity and wilting. Each during its existence seeks to fulfill its purpose.
High Cultures
Spengler identified 8 major crops:
- Babylonian
- Egyptian
- Indian
- Chinese
- Mid-American (Mayan and Aztec tribes);
- classical (Greece and Rome);
- culture of the Magi (Arabic and Jewish cultures);
- European culture.
In “Sunset of Europe” the first five cultures are out of focus of the author, Spengler motivates this by the fact that these cultures did not have a direct collision and therefore did not affect the development of European culture, which, obviously, is the main theme of the work.
Spengler pays particular attention to classical and Arab cultures, while drawing parallels with the European culture of individualism, reason and the desire for power.
Key ideas and terms
The difficulty of reading the “Sunset of Europe” lies in the fact that Spengler not only often used familiar terms in a completely different context, but also created new ones whose meaning is almost impossible to explain outside the context of Spengler’s historical and philosophical theory.
For example, the philosopher uses the concepts of Culture and Civilization (in the work, these and some other terms the author always capitalizes) in contrast to each other. In Spengler’s theory, these are not synonyms, but to some extent antonyms. Culture is growth, development, and the search for one's Goal and Fate, while Civilization is decline, degradation and “the last days”. Civilization is what remains of Culture, which allowed the rational beginning to defeat the creative.
Another pair of synonymous-contrasting concepts is “happened” and “happening”. For Spengler’s theory, “becoming” is the cornerstone. According to his main idea, history should focus not on numbers, laws, and facts describing what has already happened, but on morphology, that is, what is happening at the moment.
Pseudomorphosis is the term by which Spengler defines underdeveloped or “off course” cultures. The most striking example of pseudomorphosis is Russian civilization, the independent development of which was interrupted and changed by European culture, which was first “imposed” by Peter I. It is this undesirable interference in his culture that Spengler explains the dislike of the Russian people for “strangers”; the author cites the burning of Moscow during the offensive of Napoleon as an example of this dislike.
Course of history
The main postulate of Spengler regarding history is the absence of absolute and eternal truths. What is important, meaningful and proven in one culture can become complete nonsense in another. This does not mean that the truth is on the side of one of the cultures; rather, it says that each culture has its own truth.
In addition to the non-chronological approach to perceiving the development of the world, Spengler promoted the idea of the world significance of some cultures and the lack of global influence of others. It is for this that the philosopher uses the concept of High Culture; it denotes a culture that has influenced the development of the world.
Culture and Civilization
According to Spengler’s theory, High Culture becomes a separate organism and is characterized by maturity and consistency, while the “primitive” ones are characterized by instincts and a desire for basic comfort.
Civilization expands without an element of development, being in fact the “death” of Culture, however, the author does not see the logical possibility of the eternal existence of something, therefore Civilization is the inevitable withering of the Culture that has ceased to develop. While the main characteristic of Culture is the formation and process of development, Civilization focuses on the established and already created.
Other important features for Spengler of these two states are metropolitan cities and provinces. Culture grows “out of the ground” and does not aspire to the crowd, each small city, region or province has its own structure and pace of development, which ultimately makes up a unique historical structure. A vivid example of such growth is Italy in the High Renaissance, where Rome, Florence, Venice and others were distinctive cultural centers. Civilization is characterized by a desire for mass and “sameness”.
Races and peoples
Both of these terms are used by Spengler contextually, and their meanings differ from the usual ones. The race in "Sunset of Europe" is not a biologically-defined distinctive characteristic of a human species, but a conscious choice of a person throughout the existence of his Culture. So, in the stage of formation and growth of Culture, a person creates language, art and music himself, chooses his partners and place of residence, thereby determining everything that is called racial differences in the modern world. Thus, the Cultural concept of race is different from Civilized.
Spengler does not connect the concept of “people” with statehood, physical and political borders, and language. In his philosophical theory, people come from spiritual unity, unification for a common goal that does not pursue profit. The decisive factor in the formation of the people is not statehood and origin, but the inner sense of unity, "the historical moment of the unity lived through."
Feeling of Peace and Fate
The historical structure of the development of each Culture includes mandatory stages - the definition of worldview, the knowledge of one's Destiny and Goal, and the fulfillment of Destiny. According to Spengler, each Culture perceives the world differently and strives for its Goal. The goal is to fulfill your destiny.
Unlike the lot, which falls to the share of primitive Cultures, the High ones themselves determine their path through development and formation. Spengler considers the fate of the European spread of individualistic morality, which hides the desire for power and eternity.
