Oswald Spengler

en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Oswald_Spengler
Oswald Spengler

Born

Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler

(1880-05-29)29 May 1880

Died

8 May 1936(1936-05-08) (aged 55)

Munich, Bavaria, German Reich

Alma mater
Era

University of Munich
University of Berlin
University of Halle
20th century philosophy

Region

Western philosophy

Main interests

Philosophy of history

Signature

Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (29 May 1880 8 May 1936) was a German historian and philosopher of history
whose interests included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West (Der
Untergang des Abendlandes), published in 1918 and 1922, covering all of world history. Spengler's civilization
model postulates that any civilization is a superorganism with a limited and predictable lifespan.
He wrote extensively throughout World War I and the interwar period, and supported German hegemony in Europe.

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His other writings made little impact outside Germany. In 1920 Spengler produced Prussiandom and Socialism
(Preuentum und Sozialismus), which argued for an organic, nationalist brand of non-Marxist socialism and
authoritarianism. Some Nazis, including Joseph Goebbels, saw Spengler as an intellectual precursor, but he was
ultimately ostracized by the Nazis in 1933 for his pessimism about the future of Germany and Europe, his refusal to
support Nazi ideas of racial superiority, and his critical work The Hour of Decision.

Biography
Oswald Spengler was born in 1880 in Blankenburg (the Duchy of Brunswick, the German Reich) as the second
child of Bernhard (18441901) and Pauline (18401910) Spengler.[1] Oswald's elder brother was born prematurely
(eight months) in 1879, when his mother tried to move a heavy laundry basket, and died three weeks after birth.
Oswald was born ten months after his brother's death. [2] His younger sisters were Adele (18811917), Gertrud
(18821957), and Hildegard (18851942).
Oswald's paternal grandfather, Theodor Spengler (180676), was a metallurgical inspector ( Htteninspektor) in
Altenbrak.[3] Oswald's father, Bernhard Spengler, held the position of a postal secretary ( Postsekretr) and was a
hard-working man with a marked dislike of intellectualism, who tried to instil the same values and attitudes in his
son.
On 26 May 1799, Friedrich Wilhelm Grantzow, a tailor's apprentice in Berlin, married a Jewish woman named
Brunchen Moses (whose parents, Abraham and Reile Moses, were both deceased by that time). Shortly before the
wedding, Brunchen Moses (ca. 17691849) was baptized as Johanna Elisabeth Anspachin (the surname was
chosen after her birthplaceAnspach). [4] The couple gave birth to eight children (three before and five after the
wedding),[5] one of whom was Gustav Adolf Grantzow (181183)a solo dancer and ballet master in Berlin, who in
1837 married Katharina Kirchner (181373), a nervously beautiful solo dancer from a Munich Catholic family;[6] the
second of their four daughters was Oswald Spengler's mother Pauline Grantzow.[7] Like the Grantzows in general,
Pauline was of a Bohemian disposition, and, before marrying Bernhard Spengler, accompanied her dancer sister on
tours. She was the least talented member of the Grantzow family. In appearance, she was plump and a bit
unseemly. Her temperament, which Oswald inherited, complemented her appearance and frail physique: she was
moody, irritable, and morose.[8]
When Oswald was ten years of age, his family moved to the university city of Halle. Here he received a classical
education at the local Gymnasium (academically oriented secondary school), studying Greek, Latin, mathematics
and sciences. Here, too, he developed his propensity for the artsespecially poetry, drama, and musicand came
under the influence of the ideas of Goethe and Nietzsche. He even experimented with a few artistic creations, some
of which still survive.
After his father's death in 1901 Spengler attended several universities (Munich, Berlin, and Halle) as a private
scholar, taking courses in a wide range of subjects. His private studies were undirected. In 1903, he failed his
doctoral thesis on Heraclitus (titled Der metaphysische Grundgedanke der Heraklitischen Philosophie, The
Metaphysical Fundamental Thought in Heraclitean Philosophy, and conducted under the direction of Alois Riehl)
because of insufficient references, which effectively ended his chances of an academic career. He eventually
received his Ph.D. from Halle on April 6, 1904. In December 1904, he set to write the secondary dissertation
(Staatsexamensarbeit) necessary to qualify as a high school teacher. This became The Development of the Organ
of Sight in the Higher Realms of the Animal Kingdom[9] (Die Entwicklung des Sehorgans bei den Hauptstufen des
Tierreiches). It was approved and he received his teaching certificate. In 1905 Spengler suffered a nervous
breakdown.
Biographers report his life as a teacher was uneventful. He briefly served as a teacher in Saarbrcken and then in
Dsseldorf. From 1908 to 1911 he worked at a grammar school ( Realgymnasium) in Hamburg, where he taught

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science, German history, and mathematics.

In 1911, following his mother's death, he moved to Munich, where he would live until his death in 1936. He lived as
a cloistered scholar, supported by his modest inheritance. Spengler survived on very limited means and was
marked by loneliness. He owned no books, and took jobs as a tutor or wrote for magazines to earn additional
income.
He began work on the first volume of Decline of the West intending at first to focus on Germany within Europe, but
the Agadir Crisis of 1911 affected him deeply, and he widened the scope of his study:

At that time the World-War appeared to me both as imminent and also as the inevitable outward
manifestation of the historical crisis, and my endeavor was to comprehend it from an examination of
the spirit of the preceding centuriesnot years. ... Thereafter I saw the presentthe approaching
World-Warin a quite other light. It was no longer a momentary constellation of casual facts due to
national sentiments, personal influences, or economic tendencies endowed with an appearance of
unity and necessity by some historian's scheme of political or social cause-and-effect, but the type of
a historical change of phase occurring within a great historical organism of definable compass at the
point preordained for it hundreds of years ago.[10]

The book was completed in 1914, but publishing was delayed by World War I. Due to a congenital heart problem,
Spengler was not called up for military service. During the war, however, his inheritance was largely useless
because it was invested overseas; thus he lived in genuine poverty for this period.

The Decline of the West (1918)

Main article: The Decline of the West
When The Decline of the West was published in the summer of 1918, it was a wild success. [a] The perceived
national humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and later the economic depression around 1923 fueled by
hyperinflation seemed to prove Spengler right. It comforted Germans because it seemingly rationalized their
downfall as part of larger world-historical processes. The book met with wide success outside of Germany as well,
and by 1919 had been translated into several other languages. Spengler rejected a subsequent offer to become
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Gttingen, saying he needed time to focus on writing.
The book was widely discussed, even by those who had not read it. Historians took umbrage at his unapologetically
non-scientific approach. Thomas Mann compared reading Spengler's book to reading Schopenhauer for the first
time. Academics gave it a mixed reception. Max Weber described Spengler as a "very ingenious and learned
dilettante", while Karl Popper called the thesis "pointless".
The great historian of antiquity Eduard Meyer thought highly of Spengler, although he also had some criticisms of
him. Spengler's obscurity, intuitionalism, and mysticism were easy targets, especially for the Positivists and neoKantians who saw no meaning in history. The critic and aesthete Count Harry Kessler thought him unoriginal and
rather inane, especially in regard to his opinion on Nietzsche. Ludwig Wittgenstein, however, shared Spengler's
cultural pessimism. Spengler's work became an important foundation for the social cycle theory.

Impact
His book was a success among intellectuals worldwide as it predicted the disintegration of European and American
civilization after a violent "age of Caesarism", arguing by detailed analogies with other civilizations. It deepened the
post-World War I pessimism in Europe.[11] German Kantian philosopher Ernst Cassirer explained that at the end of

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World War I, Spengler's very title was enough to inflame imaginations: "At this time many, if not most of us, had
realized that something was rotten in the state of our highly prized Western civilization. Spengler's book expressed
in a sharp and trenchant way this general uneasiness".[12] Northrop Frye argued that while every element of
Spengler's thesis has been refuted a dozen times, it is "one of the world's great Romantic poems" and its leading
ideas are "as much part of our mental outlook today as the electron or the dinosaur, and in that sense we are all
Spenglerians". [13]
Spengler's pessimistic predictions about the inevitable decline of the West inspired Third World intellectuals, ranging
from China and Korea to Chile, eager to identify the fall of western imperialism.[14][15] In Britain and America,
however, Spengler's pessimism was later countered by the optimism of Arnold J. Toynbee in London, [16] who wrote
world history in the 1940s with a greater stress on religion.[17]

Aftermath
A 1928 Time review of the second volume of Decline described the immense influence and controversy Spengler's
ideas enjoyed during the 1920s: "When the first volume of The Decline of the West appeared in Germany a few
years ago, thousands of copies were sold. Cultivated European discourse quickly became Spengler-saturated.
Spenglerism spurted from the pens of countless disciples. It was imperative to read Spengler, to sympathize or
revolt. It still remains so".[18]
In the second volume, published in 1922, Spengler argued that German socialism differed from Marxism, and was
in fact compatible with traditional German conservatism. In 1924, following the social-economic upheaval and
inflation, Spengler entered politics in an effort to bring Reichswehr general Hans von Seeckt to power as the
country's leader. The attempt failed and Spengler proved ineffective in practical politics.
In 1931, he published Man and Technics, which warned against the dangers of technology and industrialism to
culture. He especially pointed to the tendency of Western technology to spread to hostile "Colored races" which
would then use the weapons against the West.[19] It was poorly received because of its anti-industrialism. This book
contains the well-known Spengler quote "Optimism is cowardice".
Despite voting for Hitler over Hindenburg in 1932, Spengler found the Fhrer vulgar. He met Hitler in 1933 and after
a lengthy discussion remained unimpressed, saying that Germany did not need a "heroic tenor [Heldentenor: one of
several conventional tenor classifications] but a real hero [Held]". He quarreled publicly with Alfred Rosenberg, and
his pessimism and remarks about the Fhrer resulted in isolation and public silence. He further rejected offers from
Joseph Goebbels to give public speeches. However, Spengler did become a member of the German Academy in the
course of the year.
The Hour of Decision, published in 1934, was a bestseller, but the Nazis later banned it for its critiques of National
Socialism. Spengler's criticisms of liberalism[20] were welcomed by the Nazis, but Spengler disagreed with their
biological ideology and anti-Semitism. While racial mysticism played a key role in his own worldview, Spengler had
always been an outspoken critic of the pseudo-scientific racial theories professed by the Nazis and many others in
his time, and was not inclined to change his views upon Hitler's rise to power. Although himself a German
nationalist, Spengler viewed the Nazis as too narrowly German, and not occidental enough to lead the fight against
other peoples. The book also warned of a coming world war in which Western Civilization risked being destroyed,
and was widely distributed abroad before eventually being banned in Germany. A Time review of The Hour of
Decision noted his international popularity as a polemicist, observing that "When Oswald Spengler speaks, many a
Western Worldling stops to listen". The review recommended the book for "readers who enjoy vigorous writing", who
"will be glad to be rubbed the wrong way by Spengler's harsh aphorisms" and his pessimistic predictions.[21]
In his private papers, Spengler denounced Nazi anti-Semitism in even stronger terms, writing "and how much envy

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of the capability of other people in view of one's lack of it lies hidden in anti-Semitism!" and that "when one would
rather destroy business and scholarship than see Jews in them, one is an ideologue, i.e., a danger for the nation.
Idiotic."

Final years
Spengler spent his final years in Munich, listening to Beethoven, reading Molire and Shakespeare, buying several
thousand books, and collecting ancient Turkish, Persian and Hindu weapons. He made occasional trips to the Harz
mountains, and to Italy. In the spring of 1936 (shortly before his death), he prophetically remarked in a letter to
Reichsleiter Hans Frank that "in ten years, the German Reich will probably no longer exist" (" da ja wohl in zehn
Jahren ein Deutsches Reich nicht mehr existieren wird!"). [23] He died of a heart attack on 8 May 1936, in Munich,
three weeks before his 56th birthday and exactly nine years before the fall of the Third Reich.

Influence
Spengler influenced two major European philosophers: Martin Heidegger [25] and Ludwig Wittgenstein.[26]
American authors influenced by Spengler include Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, [27] Henry Miller,[28] John
dos Passos, and F. Scott Fitzgerald,[29] who once referred to himself as an "American Spenglerian".
Numerous British writers, such as H. G. Wells,[30] as well as novelist Malcolm Lowry were influenced by
Spengler. William Butler Yeats acknowledges there were striking coincidences but says he got them
independently of Spengler.[31]
Many Germans and Austrians were influenced including painter Oskar Kokoschka, conductor Wilhelm
Furtwngler, and filmmaker Fritz Lang.
In Latin America, intellectuals and writers were especially drawn to Spengler's argument that implied Europe
was in terminal decline.[32]
Communal readings of The Decline of the West held great influence over the founding members of the Beat
Generation. Spengler's vision of the cyclical nature of civilization and the contemporaneity of the end of the
Western European cycle led William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg to look for the seeds of
the next cycle in the communities of which they were a part.[33]
Spengler's concept of the "Faustian" outlook was an important part of Herman Kahn's book The Year 2000.
Kahn used the Spenglerian term to describe cultures that value continual, restless striving.[34]
Francis Parker Yockey claimed Spengler was a pivotal influence on him and wrote Imperium as a sequel to
The Decline of the West. Yockey called Spengler "The Philosopher of the Twentieth Century". However,
Yockey's philosophy, and especially his vehement anti-Semitism, differed heavily from Spengler's, who
criticised anti-Semitism and racialism much in the same vein as his own influence Friedrich Nietzsche had.
Drawing from Spenglers thesis, Yockey maintains that in the long run it would have been better for Europe if
World War II had gone the other way.[35]
Literary critic Northrop Frye said he "practically slept [with The Decline of the West] under my pillow for
several years" while a student. Spengler's book inspired Frye to have his own "vision of coherence", resulting
in Anatomy of Criticism.[36] Frye later criticized the over-reading of Spengler's metaphorical system as actual
history rather than an organizing principle.[37]
In his book World of Wonders, writer Robertson Davies has narrator Magnus Eisengrim refer to Spengler's
conception that the Middle Ages had a Magian World View, the view that the world was filled with wonders.
So the title itself is Davies' nod to Spengler.[38]

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Spengler's ideas parallel those of Samuel P. Huntington's clash of civilizations theory.[39]

James Blish's Cities in Flight tetralogy explicitly lists Spengler's theories as an influence on the future history
of the Cities.[40]
The late paleoconservative political theorist Samuel T. Francis cited Spengler's views on race as influential on
his own.[41][42]
The Hour of Decision influenced Malcolm Xs views on economics and his critiques of capitalism. He agreed
with Spenglers prediction that class conflict would eventually be surpassed by racial conflict. When asked
about Karl Marx, Malcolm X (who had never read Marx) stated that he agreed with Spenglers view of social
class and economic systems as secondary to racial identity.[43][44][45]
In January 2000, David P. Goldman began writing a column for Asia Times Online under the pseudonym
"Spengler". He revealed his identity in April 2009.
Traces of Spengler's philosophy can be found in the works of Canadian novelist Gabrielle Roy.[46]
Certain deep ecologist and green anarchist thinkers such as Paul Kingsnorth, John Zerzan and Derrick
Jensen have cited Spengler as an influence when discussing the downfall of civilization and the overcoming
of the natural world against man-made civilization.[47]
Comparative mythologist and mystic Joseph Campbell cited Spengler as an influence when describing the
universality of myths among cultures.[48]
There are indications that interest in Spengler is being rekindled. [49][50][51]
Spengler's pessimism did not go unchallenged. In the July 10, 1920 issue of The Illustrated London News, G. K.
Chesterton took issue with pessimists (without mentioning Spengler by name) and their optimistic critics, arguing
that neither took into consideration human choice: "The pessimists believe that the cosmos is a clock that is running
down; the progressives believe it is a clock that they themselves are winding up. But I happen to believe that the
world is what we choose to make it, and that we are what we choose to make ourselves; and that our renascence or
our ruin will alike, ultimately and equally, testify with a trumpet to our liberty."[52]
Answering Spengler's pessimism helped animate Arnold J. Toynbee's similarly themed work A Study of History . He
was optimistic where Spengler was pessimistic. He expanded Spengler's theory into a fully cyclical one and
replaced Spengler's "cultures" with nations or societies.[53]

Works
Der metaphysische Grundgedanke der Heraklitischen Philosophie [The metaphysical idea of Heraclitus'
philosophy] (in German), 1904
Der Untergang des Abendlandes: Umrisse einer Morphologie der Weltgeschichte [The Decline of the West:
Outlines of a Morphology of world history], Gestalt und Wirklichkeit; Welthistorische Perspektives (in
German), 191822 , 2 vols. The Decline of the West; an Abridged Edition by Helmut Werner (tr. by F.
Atkinson).[54][55]
"On the Style-Patterns of Culture." In Talcott Parsons, ed., Theories of Society, Vol. II, The Free Press
of Glencoe, 1961.
Preussentum und Sozialismus, 1920, Translated 1922 as Prussianism And Socialism by C.F.Atkinson
(Prussianism and Socialism).
Pessimismus?, G. Stilke, 1921.

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Neubau des deutschen Reiches , 1924.

Die Revolution ist nicht zu Ende , c. 1924.
Politische Pflichten der deutschen Jugend; rede gehalten am 26. februar 1924 vor dem Hochschulring
deutscher art in Wrzburg, 1925.
Der Mensch und die Technik, 1931 (Man and Technics: A Contribution to a Philosophy of Life , tr. C. T.
Atkinson, Knopf, 1932).[56][57][58]
Die Revolution ist nicht zu Ende , 1932.
Politische Schriften, 1932.
Jahre der Entscheidung, 1933 (The Hour of Decision tr. CF Atkinson). [59]
Reden und Aufstze, 1937 (ed. by Hildegard Kornhardt) Selected Essays (tr. Donald O. White).
Gedanken, c. 1941 (ed. by Hildegard Konrnhardt) Aphorisms (translated by Gisela Koch-Weser OBrien).
Briefe, 19131936, 1963 [The Letters of Oswald Spengler, 19131936 ] (ed. and tr. by A. Helps).
Urfragen; Fragmente aus dem Nachlass, 1965 (ed. by Anton Mirko Koktanek and Manfred Schrter).
Frhzeit der Weltgeschichte: Fragmente aus dem Nachlass , 1966 (ed. by A. M. Kortanek and Manfred
Schrter).
Der Briefwechsel zwischen Oswald Spengler und Wolfgang E. Groeger: ber russische Literatur,
Zeitgeschichte und soziale Fragen, 1987 (ed. by Xenia Werner).

See also
Notes
1. ^ The original Preface is dated December, 1917 and ends with Spengler expressing hope that "his book
would not be unworthy of the German military achievements".

References
1. ^ Preussische Jahrbcher v. 192, issue 93, Georg Stilke, 1923, p. 130
2. ^ Koktanek, Anton Mirko, Oswald Spengler in seiner Zeit, Beck, 1968, p. 10
3. ^ Koktanek, Anton Mirko, Oswald Spengler in seiner Zeit, Beck, 1968, pp. 3, 517
4. ^ Koktanek, Anton Mirko, Oswald Spengler in seiner Zeit, Beck, 1968, p. 5
5. ^ Awerbuch, Marianne; Jersch-Wenzel, Stefi (1992). Bild und Selbstbild der Juden Berlins zwischen
Aufklrung und Romantik [Image and self-image of the Jews of Berlin between the Enlightenment and
Romanticism] (in German). Berlin: Colloquium. p. 91.
6. ^ Koktanek, Anton Mirko, Oswald Spengler in seiner Zeit, Beck, 1968, p. 5
7. ^ Spengler, Oswald (2007). Ich beneide jeden, der lebt [I envy anyone who lives ] (in German). Lilienfeld.
p. 126.
8. ^ Fischer, Klaus P., History and Prophecy: Oswald Spengler and The Decline of the West , P. Lang, 1989, p.
27
9. ^ K. Stimely, "Oswald Spengler: An Introduction to his Life and Ideas" , The Journal of Historical Review , Vol.
17, Institute for Historical Review, 1998.
10. ^ The Decline of the West v. 1, 1926, Alfred A. Knopf, pp. 4647

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11. ^ D. G. Bridson (2014). The Filibuster: A Study of the Political Ideas of Wyndham Lewis . A&C Black. p. 78.
12. ^
13. ^
14. ^ Prasenjit Duara (2001). "The Discourse of Civilization and Pan-Asianism.". Journal of World History 12 (1):
99130.
15. ^ Neil McInnes (1997). "The Great Doomsayer: Oswald Spengler Reconsidered". The National Interest (48):
6576.
16. ^ James Joll (1985). "Two Prophets of the Twentieth Century: Spengler and Toynbee". Review of
International Studies 11 (2).
17. ^ Levi, Albert William (1959). "History and Destiny: Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee." In Philosophy and
the Modern World, Part II, Chap. IV, Indiana University Press
18. ^ "Patterns in Chaos". Time Magazine. 10 December 1928. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
19. ^
20. ^ Tate, Allen (1934). "Spengler's Tract Against Liberalism," The American Review April 1934.
21. ^ "Spengler Speaks". Time Magazine. 12 February 1934. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
22. ^ Bronder, Dietrich (1964). Bevor Hitler kam: eine historische Studie [Before Hitler came: a historical study]
(in German). Pfeiffer. p. 25.
23. ^
24. ^
25. ^ Klagge, James Carl (2011). Wittgenstein in Exile. MIT Press. p. 166.
26. ^ Cather Studies. University of Nebraska Press. 1993. pp. 92117.
27. ^ Manniste, Indrek (2013). Henry Miller: The Inhuman Artist: A Philosophical Inquiry . A&C Black. p. 10.
28. ^
29. ^ Scheick, William J (1975), "The Womb of Time: Spengler's Influence on Wells's Apropos of Dolores",
English Literature in Transition, 18801920 18 (4): 21728
30. ^ Cormack, Alistair (2008). Yeats and Joyce: Cyclical History and the Reprobate Tradition. Ashgate. pp. 133
34.
31. ^ Ricardo Roque-Baldovinos, "The 'Epic Novel': Charismatic Nationalism and the Avant-garde in Latin
America," Cultural Critique (2001) 49#1 5883 esp p. 63
32. ^ Elkholy, Sharin N (2012). The Philosophy of the Beats. University Press of Kentucky. p. 208.
33. ^ Etulain, Richard W; Szasz, Ferenc Morton (2003). The American West in 2000: Essays in Honor of Gerald
D. Nash. UNM Press. p. 165.
34. ^
35. ^ Frye, Northrop (2003). Gorak, Jan, ed. Northrop Frye on Modern Culture. U. of Toronto Press. p. 34.
36. ^
37. ^ Moss, John (1983). The Canadian Novel: A Critical Anthology . Dundurn Press. p. 77.
38. ^ Bhutto, Benazir (2008). Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West. HarperCollins. p. 234.
39. ^
40. ^

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41. ^ Francis, Samuel (March 1995), "Prospects for Racial and Cultural Survival", American Renaissance
42. ^ Malcolm X (1992). By any means necessary (2 ed.). Pathfinder. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-87348-759-7. "And one
further comment is this: as I said, I don't know too much about Karl Marx, but there was this man who wrote
The Decline of the West, Spengler he had another book that's a little lesser known, called The Hour of
Decision"
43. ^ Franklin, Robert Michael (1990). Liberating visions: human fulfillment and social justice in African-American
thought. Fortress Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-8006-2392-0.
44. ^ Young, William H. (2010). Ordering America. Xlibris. p. 407. ISBN 978-1-4535-1663-8. "In The Hour of
Decision (1934), Spengler predicted that class conflict would eventually be surpassed by racial conflict, a
view adopted much later by Malcolm X"
45. ^ Hardy, Stephan (2001), "Oswald Spengler et Gabrielle Roy: quelques pistes de lecture" [Oswald Spengler
and Gabrielle Roy: some reading cues], Cahiers franco-canadiens de l'Ouest (in French) (CA) 13 (2): 143
56
46. ^ (1/3) John Zerzan Interview for Yu Koyo Peya on YouTube
47. ^
48. ^ Borthwick, SM (2011). "Decline of Civilization: WB Yeats' and Oswald Spengler's New Historiography of
Civilization". Comparative Civilizations Review (=MI, USA: ISCSC) 64: 2237.
49. ^ McNaughton, DL (2012). "Spengler's Philosophy, and its implication that Europe has 'lost its way'".
Comparative Civilizations Review (MI, USA: ISCSC) 67: 715.
50. ^ Farrenkopf, John (2001), Prophet of Decline: Spengler on world history and politics , Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University Press, pp. 1290, ISBN 0-8071-2653-5
51. ^
52. ^ Hughes, H Stuart (1991). Oswald Spengler. Transaction Publishers. p. 140.
53. ^ Falke, Konrad. "A Historian's Forecast," The Living Age, Vol. 314, September 1922.
54. ^ Stewart, W. K. (1924). "The Decline of Western Culture," The Century Magazine, Vol. CVIII, No. 5.
55. ^ Mumford, Lewis (1932). "The Decline of Spengler," The New Republic, March 9.
56. ^ Dewey, John (1932). "Instrument or Frankenstein?," The Saturday Review, March 12.
57. ^ Vasilkovsky, G. "Oswald Spengler's 'Philosophy of Life'," The Communist, April 1932.
58. ^ Reis, Lincoln (1934). "Spengler Declines the West," The Nation, February 28.

Further reading
Theodor W. Adorno Prisms. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 1967.
Jerry H. Bentley Shapes of World History in Twentieth Century Scholarship. Essays on Global and
Comparative History Series. (1996).
Thomas F. Bertonneau (August 18, 2009). "Snapshots of The Continent Entre Deux Guerres: Keyserlings
Europe (1928) and Spenglers Hour of Decision (1934)". The Brussels Journal.
Bertonneau, Thomas F. (May 31, 2012). "Oswald Spengler on Democracy, Equality, and 'Historylessness '".
The Brussels Journal,.
Chisholm, A. R. (September 1935). "Oswald Spengler and the Decline of the West". Australian Quarterly 7
(27).
Chisholm, A. R. (September 1942). "No Decline of the West: Sorokin's Reply to Spengler". Australian

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Quarterly, 14 (3).
R. G. Collingwood (1927). "Oswald Spengler and the Theory of Historical Cycles". Antiquity 1.
David E. Cooper. 'Reactionary Modernism'. In Anthony O'Hear (ed.) German Philosophy Since Kant.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 291304.
Costello, Paul. World Historians and Their Goals: Twentieth-Century Answers to Modernism (1993).
Dakin, Edwin F. Today and Destiny: Vital Excepts from the Decline of the West of Oswald Spengler. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962.
Christopher Dawson (1956). Oswald Spengler and the Life of Civilizations In The Dynamics Of World History.
Sheed And Ward.
Farrenkopf, John (2001), Prophet of Decline: Spengler on world history and politics , Baton Rouge: Louisiana
State University Press, ISBN 0-8071-2653-5
John Farrenkopf (JulSep 1991). "The Transformation of Spengler's Philosophy of World History". Journal of
the History of Ideas 52 (3).
Farrenkopf, John (October 1991). "Spengler's 'Der Mensch und die Technik: An Embarrassment or a
Significant Treatise?". German Studies Review 14 (3).
Farrenkopf, John (June 1993). "Spengler's Historical Pessimism and the Tragedy of Our Age". Theory and
Society 22 (3).
Fennelly, John F. (1972). Twilight of the Evening Lands: Oswald Spengler A Half Century Later. New York:
Brookdale Press. ISBN 0-912650-01-X.
Fischer, Klaus P. History and Prophecy: Oswald Spengler and the Decline of the West. Durham: Moore, 1977.
Frye, Northrop. "Spengler Revisited." In Northrop Frye on Modern Culture (2003), pp 297382, first published
1974.
Goddard, E. H. Civilisation or Civilisations: An Essay on the Spenglerian Philosophy of History, Boni &
Liveright, 1926.
Paul Gottfried (March 1982). "Spengler and the Inspiration of the Classical Age" . Modern Age XXVI (1).
H. Stuart Hughes (1952). Oswald Spengler: A Critical Estimate . Charles Scribner's Sons.
Hughes, H. Stuart (1991). Preface to the Present Edition". The Decline of the West: An Abridged Edition, by
Oswald Spengler. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506751-7.
Kidd, Ian James. "Oswald Spengler, Technology, and Human Nature: 'Man and Technics' as Philosophical
Anthropology". In The European Legacy, (2012) 17#1 pp 1931.
Kogan, Steve. "'I See Further Than Others': Reflections On Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West and
The Hour of Decision," Part 2(A), Part 2(B), Part 3, Part 4(A), Part 4(B), Part 5(A), Part 5(B), The Brussels
Journal, 201011.
Kroll, Joe Paul. "'A Biography of the Soul': Oswald Spengler's Biographical Method and the Morphology of
History German Life & Letters (2009) 62#1 pp 67-83.
Robert W. Merry "Spengler's Ominous Prophecy," National Interest, January 2, 2013.
Nicholls, Roger A. (Summer 1985). "Thomas Mann and Spengler". The German Quarterly 58 (3).
Rees, Philip (ed.) (1991). Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890. ISBN 0-13-089301-3.
Weigert, Hans W. (October 1942). "Oswald Spengler, Twenty-five Years After: The Future in Retrospect".
Foreign Affairs.

In foreign languages
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Baltzer, Armin. Philosoph oder Prophet? Oswald Spenglers Vermchtnis und Voraussagen [Philosopher or
Prophet?], Verlag fr Kulturwissenschaften, 1962.
Caruso, Sergio. "Lo Sptwerk storico-filosofico di Oswald Spengler" [Oswald Spenglers HistoricPhilosophical Sptwerk]. In Antologia Vieusseux, Vol. 11, No. 4142, Jan.June 1976, pp. 6772.
Caruso, Sergio. La politica del Destino. Relativismo storico e irrazionalismo politico nel pensiero di Oswald
Spengler [Destinys politics. Historical relativism & political irrationalism in Oswald Spenglers thought].
Firenze: Cultura 1979.
Caruso, Sergio. "Oswald Spengler: un centenario dimenticato?". In Nuova Antologia, Vol. 115, No. 2136,
Oct.Dec. 1980, pp. 34754.
Caruso, Sergio. "Minoranze, caste e partiti nel pensiero di Oswald Spengler". In Politica e societ. Scritti in
onore di Luciano Cavalli, ed. by G. Bettin. Cedam: Padova 1997, pp. 21482.
Felken, Detlef. Oswald Spengler; Konservativer Denker zwischen Kaiserreich und Diktatur . Munich: CH
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Messer, August. Oswald Spengler als Philosoph, Strecker und Schrder, 1922.
Reichelt, Stefan G. "Oswald Spengler". In: Nikolaj A. Berdjaev in Deutschland 19201950. Eine
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Schroeter, Manfred. Metaphysik des Untergangs: eine kulturkritische Studie ber Oswald Spengler, Leibniz
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External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Oswald Spengler

Works by or about Oswald Spengler at Internet Archive

Nikolai Berdyaev. The Pre-Death Thoughts of Faust. .
S. Srikanta Sastri, Oswald Spengler on Indian Culture
Spengler, Oswald The Decline of the West v. 1 (1926) and v. 2 (1928), Alfred A. Knopf
Petri Liukkonen. "Oswald Spengler". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Archived from the original on 4 July
2013.
The Oswald Spengler Collection
Timeline of Spengler's life (translated from German)
Works by Spengler, including his books, essays and lectures (in German)
Complete bibliography of Spengler's essays, lectures, and books, including translations, arranged
chronologically
The Modernism Lab: Oswald Spengler
Works by Oswald Spengler, at Unz.

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