Bücher von Oswald Spengler

In this revised edition of Man and Technics, Oswald Spengler's predictions have proven remarkably accurate after over ninety years. He foresaw the environmental consequences of industrialization, leading to species extinction.Spengler predicted that low-wage labor from Third World countries would outcompete Western workers, causing industrial production to shift to regions like East Asia, India, and South America. He argued that technology alienates humanity from nature, dominating our culture. Despite mastering nature, man becomes enslaved by technology.Spengler believed the West would grow disillusioned with its artificial lifestyle and eventually despise the civilization it created. The relentless progress of technology ensures the self-destruction of the high-tech West from within. He envisioned a future where our cities crumble like ancient palaces. Whether this prophecy will come true remains to be seen.

Diese kleine Schrift ist aus Aufzeichnungen hervorgegangen, die für den »Untergang des Abendlandes«, namentlich den zweiten Band bestimmt, die teilweise sogar der Keim waren, aus dem diese ganze Philosophie sich entwickelt hat. [Fußnote] Das Wort Sozialismus bezeichnet nicht die tiefste, aber die lauteste Frage der Zeit. Jeder gebraucht es. Jeder denkt dabei etwas andres. Jeder legt in dieses Schlagwort aller Schlagworte das hinein, was er liebt oder haßt, fürchtet oder wünscht. Aber niemand übersieht die historischen Bedingungen in ihrer Enge und Weite. Ist Sozialismus ein Instinkt oder ein System? Das Endziel der Menschheit oder ein Zustand von heute und morgen? Oder ist er nur die Forderung einer einzelnen Klasse? Ist er mit dem Marxismus identisch?

In this new translation of Prussianism and Socialism, Oswald Spengler reflects on the relationship between socialism, liberalism and Prussianism. For Spengler, Prussianism is a typically German disposition, which is expressed in qualities such as a sense of duty and a willingness to sacrifice oneself for the common good. In contrast to Marxism, which Spengler strongly criticises, this Prussian spirit is synonymous with true socialism.Spengler contrasts two fundamentally different views of life: English liberalism and Prussian socialism. While English liberalism is characterised by radical individualism and a ruthless desire for profit and exploitation, Prussian socialism emphasises togetherness, solidarity and national community. Both views are incompatible. Depending on which ideology gets the upper hand, power will ultimately rest either with financial interests or with states. Against this backdrop, Spengler calls on citizens of all walks of life to rise above class egoism, to affirm Prussian socialism and to unite in the struggle against the liberal world-view - the 'inner England' - which he sees as a threat to the continued existence of the German nation.This edition includes Spengler's essay 'Russia's Double Face and the German Problems in the East', which presents his views on Russia as a distinct culture that has not yet fulfilled its destiny.

In Early Days of World History, Oswald Spengler paints a dramatic and highly informative vista of humanity's ancient past. Swarms of savage tribes clash with and finally conquer sophisticated civilisations; emperors replace kings and peasants revolt against their masters. From the scorching deserts of Kash to the frozen tundra of the eternal North, sceptres are passed and throne rooms razed, while nations disappear and new tongues become dominant. The pirate castle of Troy besieged and burned and the Magian culture welcoming a saviour with empire-consolidating powers, Spengler chronicles the rise and fall of pagan peoples before the advent of Christ constricted their destinies through modern universalism.From the wanderings of old folk souls across withered Bronze Age landscapes to the first clumsy stirrings of newly born peoples in the cradle of high cultures not yet mature, these posthumously published thoughts, by one of the greatest philosophers of history the West has ever known, present a vivid and detailed ride through a world far removed from but yet eerily familiar to us. In this perfect companion piece to The Decline of the West, we can see Spengler at his razor-sharp analytical best tackling the issues affecting the world in its youth.The often awkward structure and sometimes fragmentary nature of Spengler's notes in the German original were faithfully replicated in the English translation.

2022 Reprint of VOLUME ONE of the 1926 Edition. Facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This volume, subtitled Form and Actuality, comprises the first volume of Spengler's monumental treatise on the Decline of the West. The Decline of the West was very well received upon publication and was widely read by German intellectuals. It has been suggested that it intensified a sense of crisis in Germany following the end of World War I. The critic George Steiner has suggested that the work can be seen as one of several books that resulted from the crisis of German culture following Germany's defeat in World War I, comparable in this respect to the philosopher Ernst Bloch's The Spirit of Utopia (1918), the theologian Franz Rosenzweig's The Star of Redemption (1921), the theologian Karl Barth's The Epistle to the Romans (1922) and the philosopher Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927). Illustrated with three folding plates. What American critics have said of The Decline of the West:"This grand panorama, this imaginative sweep, this staggering erudition, this Nietzschean prose, with its fine color and ringing force, mark a work that must endure."- Henry Hazlitt, New York Sun.''Here is one of the mighty books of the century, which, sooner or later, will be read by all who ponder the riddle of existence ... it is a truly monumental work, at once depressing in its pessimism and exhilarating in its compelling challenge to our accepted ideas."- Arthur D. Gayer, The Forum."As one reads Spengler the thought keeps recurring, ever more insistently, that here again is one of those universal minds which we had come to think were no longer possible.''- Allen V. Peden, St. Louis Post-Dispatch."Audacious, profound, crochety, absurd, exciting, and magnificent." Lewis Mumford, The New Republic.

This book changes your views on history, civilization, and the world.German philosopher and polymath Oswald Spengler displays his controversial opinions about world history. He defines "culture" as a superorganism which has a lifespan of birth, flourishing, and death, and defines "civilization" as the end-product of culture.He divides the entire history of the world into eight distinct cultures, from which all civilizations, religions, and wars arose. Spengler was criticized for his cataclysmic prediction of the downfall of western civilization in the twenty first century, yet it's shocking to see markers for this prediction in everyday news.He claims that democracy is but the political weapon of money, and that media is the means through which money operates a democratic political system. According to him, the penetration of money's power through a society is one of many signs of the shift from "culture" to "civilization".After reading this, you'll be more learned in history, philosophy, science, mathematics, architecture, music, art, literature, and even Greek and Latin. "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.""When Oswald Spengler speaks, many a Western Worldling stops to listen."~New York Times

Spenglers Idee vom Untergang des Abendlandes markiert eine Wende in der Geschichtsphilosophie. Gegen die Vorstellung eines linearen Voranschreitens der Geschichte (Antike, Mittelalter, Neuzeit) setzt er den Gedanken eines zyklischen Werdens und Vergehens. Vor diesem Hintergrund analysiert er alle großen Kulturen und skizziert den Plan einer Weltgeschichte, der auch Voraussagen über die Zukunft gestattet. Spenglers Opus Magnum wurde von Anfang an begeistert und kritisch gelesen und sorgt seit fast 100 Jahren für Kontroversen. Zuletzt bezog sich Samuel P. Huntington in »Kampf der Kulturen« auf Spengler.

Über einen Zeitraum von mehr als 20 Jahren dokumentieren größtenteils unbekannte Aufzeichnungen das Denken des vielleicht wirkmächtigsten Vertreters der sogenannten "Konservativen Revolution" zwischen Erstem Weltkrieg und Nationalsozialismus. Seine Thesen, vor allem sein Vergleich des "Untergangs" alter Zivilisationen mit der Entwicklung des Abendlandes, prägten jahrzehntelang Dichtung und Philosophie: Thomas Mann, Robert Musil, Hermann Hesse, Martin Heidegger, Theodor W. Adorno und viele andere beschäftigten sich kritisch mit Spengler. Von Anfang an reizten dabei sein herrischer Ton, seine zur Schau gestellte Kaltblütigkeit und sein deutschnationaler Aristokratismus, faszinierten aber auch die ungewöhnlichen neuen Blickwinkel auf Geschichte und Gesellschaft. Mit der Edition des politischen Nachlasses, der über 1300 einzelne Fragmente umfasst, wird ein Textkonvolut zugänglich gemacht, das es zum ersten Mal erlaubt, die Entwicklung der politischen und gesellschaftlichen Ideen Spenglers mit ihren Brüchen und Kontinuitäten jenseits der veröffentlichten Werke nachzuvollziehen.

Oswald Spenglers "Untergang des Abendlandes" gehört zu den meistgelesenen geschichtsphilosophischen Werken des 20. Jahrhunderts. Trotz der Kritik, die an seinen historischen, philosophischen und politischen Aussagen geübt worden ist, hat das Buch bis heute seinen Platz als Klassiker der Zivilisationskritik behauptet. In jüngster Zeit haben seine Thesen im Zusammenhang mit der Debatte über das "Ende der Geschichte" neue Aktualität gewonnen.