Oswald Spengler

Oswald Spengler
Born
Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler

(1880-05-29)29 May 1880
Died8 May 1936(1936-05-08) (aged 55)
Alma materUniversity of Munich
University of Berlin
University of Halle
Notable workThe Decline of the West (1918, 1922)
Era20th-century philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolContinental philosophy
Goethean science[1][2]
Conservative Revolution
ThesisDer metaphysische Grundgedanke der heraklitischen Philosophie (1904)
Doctoral advisorAlois Riehl
Main interests
Aesthetics
Philosophy of history
Philosophy of science
Political philosophy
Signature
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Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox philosopher with unknown parameter "influenced"

Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (German: [ˈɔsvalt ˈʃpɛŋlɐ]; 29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German polymath, whose areas of interest included history, philosophy, mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best known for his two-volume work The Decline of the West (Der Untergang des Abendlandes), published in 1918 and 1922, covering human history. Spengler's model of history postulates that human cultures and civilizations are akin to biological entities, each with a limited, predictable, and deterministic lifespan.

Spengler predicted that about the year 2000, Western civilization would enter the period of pre‑death emergency whose countering would lead to 200 years of Caesarism (extra-constitutional omnipotence of the executive branch of government) before Western civilization's final collapse.[5]

Spengler is regarded as a German nationalist and a critic of republicanism, and he was a prominent member of the Weimar-era Conservative Revolution. The Nazis had viewed his writings as a means to provide a "respectable pedigree" to their ideology,[6] Spengler later criticized Nazism due to its excessive racialist elements. He saw Benito Mussolini, and entrepreneurial types, like the mining magnate Cecil Rhodes,[7] as examples of the impending Caesars of Western culture—later showcasing his disappointment of Mussolini's colonialist adventures.[8]

  1. ^ Hughes 1991, p. 59.
  2. ^ Peter E. Gordon, John P. McCormick (eds.), Weimar Thought: A Contested Legacy, Princeton University Press, 2013, p. 136.
  3. ^ Coogan, Kevin (1999). Dreamer of the Day: Franis Parker Yockey and the Fascist International. Brooklyn, New York.: Autonomedia. p. 168. ISBN 1-57027-039-2.
  4. ^ Dreher (12 February 2020). "Burroughs and Ginsberg Q & A Berlin 1976 – 3". allenginsberg.org. Allen Ginsberg Project. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  5. ^ Holton, Gerald James (2000). Einstein, History, and Other Passions: The Rebellion Against Science at the End of the Twentieth Century. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-00433-7.
  6. ^ Dreher, Carl. "Spengler and the Third Reich". VQR. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  7. ^ The Decline of the West, Alfred A. Knopf. Volume 1, page 37, Atkinson's Translation.
  8. ^ Letters of Oswald Spengler page 305, Alfred A. Knopf, 1966, Translation Arthur Helps. Here Spengler is quite critical of Mussolini's involvement in Abyssinia, saying: "Mussolini has lost the calm statesmanlike superiority of his first years...".

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