Comparing Civilization And The Decline West By Oswald Spengler

Both books want to give us a new understanding of the world. In particular, Spengler proposes two different views: the world as nature, which gives us the world of space, the “become”. The opposite view he proposes, is the world as history, which is the world of time, the “becoming”. Spengler focuses on explaining the world of time, in fact, most of his theories are based on the “becoming”. His interest is concentrated on the cultures and civilizations, he is convinced that 8 cultures in particular have been the creation of humankind. Each culture dies and becomes a civilization, until it disappears. It is all a cycle. In fact, each of the cultures he talks about, follow a precise life circle, which starts from the birth, followed by the growth, later the decline and in conclusion with the death and a destiny. In his book, Spengler interest goes more on the west and the classical culture, finding

He concentrates on the most important periods described for these 8 cultures, which are: the peasantry, known as the Pre-cultural stage, they were agricultural labourer; the Culture, which develops into the cities; the Civilization, where the cultures start to die.

Civilization and the Faustian culture:

The Decline of the West, is a book by the German philosopher Oswald Spengler (1880-1936). He wants to give a new perception of the world. The title of the book, suggests its dominant theory: Spengler wants to demonstrate that his Culture, the Western Culture, has progressed from its Cultural stage, passing into the stage of Civilization where it starts living out its ending. This book was composed time before the World War I, here the author talks about eight “high cultures” of the past: Babylonian, Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Arabian, Mexican, focusing particularly on the Classical and