The Decline of the West
A cyclical history of cultures as organic entities.
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The Decline of the West is a two-volume work by Oswald Spengler that rejects a linear Eurocentric view of history in favor of cultures that evolve as organisms.[1][2] Spengler described his book as a "Copernican overturning" involving the rejection of the ancient-medieval-modern rubric.[2] The word "decline" more accurately renders Spengler's original German word Untergang, which he said meant a protracted fall or "twilight" rather than a catastrophe.[3]
Making and release
In a footnote, Spengler described Plato and Goethe as standing for the philosophy of Becoming, and Aristotle and Kant for the philosophy of Being.[4] According to Spengler's own account, the initial draft of the work was completed over a three-year period after he first had the idea in 1911.[5] Both volumes were issued together in a definitive edition in 1923.[1] Philosophers like Goethe and, to a lesser extent, Nietzsche shaped Spengler's perspective on world history.[6]
In a 1921 essay, Spengler suggested that using the word Vollendung in his title could have prevented much confusion.[3]
What the cited sources add
Spengler borrowed the concept of pseudomorphosis from mineralogy to explain half-developed or only partially manifested Cultures.[7] According to Spengler, a race has "roots" like a plant that connect it to a landscape, and he used "race" in a tribal and cultural rather than biological sense.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "The Decline of the West" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Spengler, "The Decline of the West, v. 1: Form and Actuality", 1918, p. 6–7; Spengler, "Decline of the West v. 2: Perspectives of World History", 1922, p. 9–10; Baker, "Race", Oxford University Press, 1974, p. 52 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Decline of the West" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Spengler O., Op.laud., vol.1, Intro. $6. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Decline of the West" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Spengler O., Pessimismus?, Preußisches Jahrbuch, April 1921, pp. 73–84 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Decline of the West" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: vol.1, Intro., last note (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Decline of the West" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: According to some it was the Agadir Crisis that prompted his writing; see the publisher's note on the first page of the 'First Vintage Books Edition' (2006). (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Decline of the West" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Nietzsche And His Century", Home.alphalink.com.au, November 2025 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Decline of the West" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: This paragraph summarises volume 2, chapter II, §§1–2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Decline of the West" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: vol. 2, chap.2, II, §7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article The Decline of the West (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: The Decline of the West (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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