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"Oswald Spengler"
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Ludwig Wittgenstein – A Cultural Point of View
In the preface to his Philosophical Investigations Ludwig Wittgenstein expresses pessimism about the culture of his time and doubts as to whether his ideas would be understood in such a time: ‘I make them public with doubtful feelings. It is not impossible that it should fall to the lot of this work, in its poverty and in the darkness of this time, to bring light into one brain or another – but, of course, it is not likely’.
In this book William James DeAngelis develops a deeper understanding of Wittgenstein's remark and argues that it is an expression of a significant cultural component in Wittgenstein's later thought which, while latent, is very much intended. DeAngelis focuses on the fascinating connection between Wittgenstein and Oswald Spengler and in particular the acknowledged influence of Spengler's Decline of the West. His book shows in meticulous detail how Spengler's dark conception of an ongoing cultural decline resonated deeply for Wittgenstein and influenced his later work. In so doing, the work takes into account discussions of these matters by major commentators such as Malcolm, Von Wright, Cavell, Winch, and Clack among others. A noteworthy feature of this book is its attempt to link Wittgenstein's cultural concerns with his views on religion and religious language. DeAngelis offers a fresh and original interpretation of the latter.
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The Impact of the Russo-Ukrainian War on Sino-German Relations
This paper investigates how Sino-German relations would be impacted by the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022. The relations between both Eurasian partners were found to be significantly influenced by US-German relations. The theory of Historical Cycles by cultural philosopher Oswald Spengler was used as an analytical tool. As a consequence of the war, findings suggested a far-reaching, permanent decline of Germany's industrial-financial base until the 2030s. A potential Trump government could facilitate such a result. Also triggered by the war, Berlin would predominantly act in alignment with an American lead - Beijing and Berlin's strategic partnership could fail. While China and Russia would most likely stay free of America's influence, Washington would probably be able to dominate Germany, Europe, the West, and perhaps most of the world.
Journal Article
American Dreaming: Really Reading The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925) is one of the best known and most widely read and taught novels in American literature. It is so familiar that even those who have not read it believe that they have and take for granted that they know about its main character and theme of the American Dream. We need to approach The Great Gatsby as if it were new and really read it, paying close attention to Fitzgerald’s literary language. His novel gives us a vivid depiction of and insight into income inequality as it existed in the 1920s and, by extension, as it exists today, when the American Dream is even more limited to the fortunate few, not within reach of the many. When we really read The Great Gatsby, we perceive and understand the American dimension of the novel and appreciate, too, the global range and relevance that in it Fitzgerald has achieved. It is a great American book and a great book of world literature.
Journal Article
The Decline of Western Science: Defending Spengler's Account of the End of Science: Within Reason
Haack classifies Spengler's views on the end of science as what she terms annihilationist in that he forecasts the absolute termination of scientific activity as opposed to its completion or culmination. She also argues that in addition to his externalist argument that Western science, as cultural product, cannot survive the demise of Western Culture, Spengler also puts forward an internalist argument that science, regardless of the imminent demise of Western Culture, is in terminal decline as evidenced by its diminishing returns. I argue against Haack that Spengler's argument for the diminishing returns of modern science is in fact an externalist one, in that he locates the sources of science's current decline outside the discipline of science itself, attributing them to a change in cultural attitude towards scientific endeavours. I further argue that Spengler's prediction of the imminent end of science was directed specifically at pure science, and that he in fact held that applied science would continue to develop. I also take issue with Haack's suggestion that Spengler's views on science were outmoded at the time that he wrote them.
Journal Article
Spengler’s Prussian Socialism
Oswald Spengler (1880–1936) was one of the most significant thinkers of the Weimar Republic, Germany’s first democracy. His work, notably the two-volume, 1200-page Der Untergang des Abendlandes (Decline of the West, 1918/22), had a profound influence on the intellectual discourses of the time in Germany and beyond.
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Yet, despite the high esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries, his thought has been seriously under-researched. In English, only four major studies have appeared in the last 70 years.
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This is all the more surprising in that the historical period in which he wrote has been extensively covered by both English- and German-language scholars and that some of the thinkers who drew critically on his ideas, such as Heidegger and Adorno, have become household names in Germany intellectual history.
Journal Article
El suicidio de Europa. La decadencia del campo, el auge de la pornografia y del hombre masa
En este ensayo, de la mano de Oswald Spengler, pasamos revista a la decadencia de la civilización europea tomando como guía tres fenómenos: el análisis de las relaciones entre el campo y la gran ciudad, el advenimiento de la una sociedad hipererotizada y pornográfica, así como el predominio del hombre masa.
Journal Article
Spengler, Epigenetics, and the Idea of 'Race'
Oswald Spengler affronts both the positivism of Liberalism and Marxism, which are based on a lineal \"march of history\" from \"primitive to modern,\" ending in a utopian \"end of history,\" at which humanity has reached its apex of striving, and the \"Right,' from which Spengler himself emerged, which has nevertheless often rejected his non-zoological definitions of \"race.\" Both concepts, whether of \"Right\" or Left\" Spengler saw as hangovers of 19th century materialism, the zeitgeist which was primarily represented by England. Hence, Marxism for example was just as much a product of that zeitgeist as the Manchester School of Free Trade, and Darwinism. Indeed, these doctrines were often conflated (Social Darwinism), while Darwinism was brought to Germany by Haeckel and largely displaced German Idealism in the name of science.
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Decadencia y muerte del espiritu europeo. volviendo la mirada hacia Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler elaboró una concepción pluralista y organicista de la Historia. Según su visión las culturas experimentan una necesidad morfológica, que conlleva nacimiento, esplendor y decadencia antes de la muerte. Occidente está a punto de morir, ya es el cadáver de una Cultura, es decir, una Civilización. El declive militar de los occidentales ante los \"nuevos bárbaros\", y el sometimiento de lo político a lo económico-financiero marcan nuestra era. Una era unilateral, en la que el \"alma faústica\" de nuestra cultura discurrió exclusivamente por los canales de la infinitud técnica y de la producción y acumulación insaciable de plusvalía.
Journal Article