Oswald Spengler facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Oswald Spengler
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler
29 May 1880 Blankenburg, Brunswick, Germany
|
| Died | 8 May 1936 (aged 55) |
| Alma mater | University of Munich University of Berlin University of Halle |
|
Notable work
|
The Decline of the West (1918, 1922) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Continental philosophy Goethean science Conservative Revolution |
| Thesis | Der metaphysische Grundgedanke der heraklitischen Philosophie (1904) |
| Doctoral advisor | Alois Riehl |
|
Main interests
|
Philosophy of history Political philosophy |
|
Influenced
|
|
| Signature | |
 |
|
Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (born May 29, 1880 – died May 8, 1936) was a German thinker. He was interested in many subjects, like history, philosophy, mathematics, science, and art. He is most famous for his two-part book, The Decline of the West. This book was published in 1918 and 1922.
Spengler believed that human cultures and civilizations are like living things. He thought they are born, grow, and then die, just like people. He predicted that Western civilization would face big challenges around the year 2000. He thought this would lead to a time of strong leaders, like ancient Roman Caesars, before its final decline.
Spengler was seen as a nationalist and against democracy. He was part of a group called the Conservative Revolution in Germany. He voted for Hitler in 1932, and the Nazis saw him as someone who could make their ideas seem more important. However, Spengler later criticized Nazism because of its focus on race. This led to his ideas being ignored in his last years.
He believed that leaders like Benito Mussolini and businessmen like Cecil Rhodes were examples of the strong leaders he expected to see in Western culture. Spengler's ideas greatly influenced other historians, including Arnold J. Toynbee. His views on the West are also popular with some Islamists.
Contents
Oswald Spengler's Life Story
Early Years and Family
Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler was born on May 29, 1880. His birthplace was Blankenburg (Harz) in Germany. He was the oldest child in his family to live past infancy. His father, Bernhard Spengler, worked for the postal service. His mother, Pauline Spengler, came from a family of artists.
Oswald's father was a hard worker who did not like intellectual discussions. He tried to teach Oswald the same values. Oswald's mother was more artistic and had a moody personality, which Oswald also had.
School Days
When Oswald was ten, his family moved to Halle. There, he went to a Gymnasium, which is a type of high school focused on academics. He studied Greek, Latin, mathematics, and science. He also developed a love for the arts, especially poetry, plays, and music. He was influenced by the ideas of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Nietzsche. When he was 17, he wrote a play called Montezuma.
After his father died in 1901, Spengler studied at several universities. He went to Munich, Berlin, and Halle. He took many different courses. In 1903, he failed his first attempt at a doctoral thesis on Heraclitus. He tried again and earned his PhD in 1904. He also got a teaching certificate. In 1905, Spengler had a nervous breakdown.
Career and Famous Works
Spengler worked briefly as a teacher in Saarbrücken and Düsseldorf. From 1908 to 1911, he taught science, German history, and mathematics in Hamburg. His time as a teacher was not very exciting.
In 1911, after his mother passed away, he moved to Munich. He lived there for the rest of his life. He lived a quiet life, supported by a small inheritance. He did not own many books and sometimes worked as a tutor or wrote for magazines to earn money. He had a serious heart problem, so he did not have to serve in the military. During World War I, he lived in poverty because his money was invested overseas.
He started writing the first part of The Decline of the West. At first, he planned to focus on Germany. But a political event in 1911, the Agadir Crisis, made him expand his ideas. He finished the book in 1914, but it was published in 1918, near the end of World War I.
When the first part of The Decline of the West came out, it became very popular. Spengler became famous quickly. The difficult times in Germany after the Treaty of Versailles (1919), with economic problems and high inflation, seemed to prove Spengler's ideas right. His book made Germans feel better because it suggested their problems were part of a bigger historical process. The book was also very successful outside Germany and was translated into many languages by 1919.
The second part of Decline was published in 1922. In this book, Spengler said that German socialism was different from Marxism. He thought it was more in line with traditional German conservative ideas. Spengler was offered a job as a professor at the University of Göttingen, but he turned it down. He wanted to focus on his writing.
Many people discussed his book, even those who had not read it. Historians did not like his non-scientific approach. The writer Thomas Mann said reading Spengler's book was like reading Schopenhauer for the first time. Academics had mixed feelings. Sociologist Max Weber called Spengler a "very clever and learned amateur." Philosopher Karl Popper called his main idea "pointless." Both parts of Decline were published in English in 1926.
Later Life and Views
In 1924, after the economic problems in Germany, Spengler tried to get involved in politics. He wanted to help General Hans von Seeckt become the country's leader. This attempt failed, and Spengler was not very good at practical politics.
A 1928 review in Time magazine talked about how much Spengler's ideas were discussed in the 1920s. It said that when his first book came out, thousands of copies were sold. People everywhere were talking about Spengler's ideas.
In 1931, he published Man and Technics. This book warned about the dangers of technology and industrialism to culture. He worried that Western technology would spread to other groups, who might then use it against the West. This book was not well received because it was against industry. It contains Spengler's famous quote: "Optimism is cowardice."
Even though Spengler voted for Hitler in 1932, he found Hitler to be a common person. He met Hitler in 1933 but was not impressed. He said Germany needed a true hero, not just a performer. He openly disagreed with Alfred Rosenberg, a Nazi leader. His negative views about Hitler led to him being isolated and quiet in public. He also refused offers from Joseph Goebbels to give public speeches. However, Spengler did become a member of the German Academy that year.
The Hour of Decision, published in 1934, was a bestseller. But it was later banned because it criticized National Socialism. Spengler's criticisms of liberalism were liked by the Nazis. However, Spengler disagreed with their ideas about race and anti-Semitism. While he had his own ideas about race, he always spoke out against the racial theories of the Nazis. He was a German nationalist, but he thought the Nazis were too focused only on Germany. He believed they were not "Western" enough to lead against other peoples. The book also warned of a coming world war that could destroy Western Civilization. It was widely read outside Germany before the Nazis banned it. A Time review of The Hour of Decision noted Spengler's popularity. It said that when Spengler spoke, many people in the Western world listened.
Final Years
On October 13, 1933, Spengler became one of the hundred senators of the German Academy.
Spengler spent his last years in Munich. He enjoyed listening to Beethoven, reading plays by Molière and Shakespeare, and collecting thousands of books. He also collected old Turkish, Persian, and Indian weapons. He sometimes traveled to the Harz mountains and Italy. In the spring of 1936, shortly before he died, he wrote a letter predicting that "in ten years, a German Reich will probably no longer exist."
Spengler died of a heart attack on May 8, 1936, in Munich. He passed away three weeks before his 56th birthday.
Spengler's Key Ideas
Influences on His Thinking
In his book The Decline of the West, Spengler said that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Nietzsche were his biggest influences. He especially liked Goethe's idea of life force and Nietzsche's criticisms of culture.
Spengler was also influenced by the idea of world history as a repeating cycle, proposed by German historian Eduard Meyer. The idea that civilizations grow and decline like living things can be found in ancient writings. Thinkers like Francis Bacon also compared empires using ideas from biology.
The Decline of the West: Cultures and Civilizations
Spengler's ideas about history are based on two main points:
- He believed in social groups he called 'Cultures'. He saw these as the biggest players in human history.
- He thought that Cultures grow and change just like living beings.
Spengler listed nine Cultures: Ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian, Chinese, Greco-Roman (which he called 'Apollonian'), 'Magian' or 'Arabic' (including early Christianity and Islam), Mexican, Western (which he called 'Faustian'), and Russian. He believed these Cultures were unique but also interacted. Spengler said, "Cultures are organisms, and world-history is their collective biography."
Spengler also compared the growth of Cultures to the stages of human life. He said, "Every Culture passes through the age-phases of the individual man. Each has its childhood, youth, manhood and old age." When a Culture reaches its later stage, Spengler called it a 'Civilization'. He saw Civilizations as rigid and focused on technology, empire-building, and large societies. He expected Western Civilization to become like this and decline from the 2000s onwards.
The historian Eduard Meyer thought highly of Spengler, even with some criticisms. Spengler's ideas were sometimes seen as unclear or mystical. However, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein shared Spengler's negative view of culture. Spengler's work became important for the idea of social cycle theory, which looks at repeating patterns in history.
Prussianism and Socialism: German Socialism
In 1919, Spengler published Prussianism and Socialism. In this essay, he argued that German socialism was the right kind of socialism, different from English socialism. He believed true German socialism had a strong "national" spirit.
Spengler thought that the Western world would spend its last few centuries in a state of Caesarian socialism. In this state, a strong leader, like a conductor leading an orchestra, would bring everyone together into a harmonious society.
Some critics say that Spengler's "Prussian socialism" had some features that were actually capitalistic. Spengler was strongly against labor strikes, trade unions, and taxing the rich. He also thought workers should work more, even on Sundays, and was against government insurance for sickness or unemployment.
Views on Nazism and Fascism
Spengler's ideas had an important impact on Nazi thinking. He provided some basic Nazi ideas and made them seem more respectable. Key parts of his writings were used in the Nazi Party's beliefs.
Hitler took Spengler's criticisms of the Nazi Party seriously. Some historians believe Spengler's ideas even influenced Hitler's decision to carry out the Night of the Long Knives, where many Nazi leaders were killed. In 1934, Spengler gave a speech at the funeral of one of the victims of this event. In 1935, he left the board of the important Nietzsche Archive, which was seen as opposing the Nazi government.
Spengler saw Jewish people as a "disruptive element" that caused problems wherever they were. He believed they had a "cynical intelligence" and focused on "money thinking." He thought they could not fit into Western culture and were a foreign presence in Europe. He also said in The Decline of the West that this pattern happens in all civilizations. He noted that ancient Jews would have seen the Romans in a similar negative way. Historian Alexander Bein argues that Spengler's descriptions helped strengthen negative stereotypes about Jewish people in Germany before World War II.
However, Spengler thought Nazi anti-Semitism was self-defeating. He had his own ethnological view of race and culture.
Spengler believed that democracies focused on capitalism would naturally turn into dictatorships. He showed some support for Benito Mussolini and the Italian Fascist movement. He saw them as an early sign of this development.
Oswald Spengler's Books
- The Decline of the West, 2 volumes (1918, 1922)
- Prussianism and Socialism (1919)
- Pessimism? (1921)
- Rebuilding the German Reich (1924)
- The Revolution is Not Over (1924)
- Political Duties of German Youth (1925)
- Man and Technics: A Contribution to a Philosophy of Life (1931)
- Political Writings (1932)
- The Hour of Decision (1934)
- Speeches and Essays (1937)
- Thoughts (c. 1941)
- Letters, 1913–1936 (1963)
- Original Questions; Fragments from the Estate (1965)
- Early World History: Fragments from the Estate (1966)
- The Correspondence between Oswald Spengler and Wolfgang E. Groeger (1987)
Images for kids
-
Oswald Spengler's signature
See Also
In Spanish: Oswald Spengler para niños
- Arnold J. Toynbee
- Carroll Quigley
- Francis Parker Yockey
- Feliks Koneczny
- Samuel P. Huntington
- Social cycle theory
- The Decline of the West
