Oswald Spengler

Fülszöveg

Social and Intellectual History
OSWALD SPENGLER
H. Stuart Hughes
With a new introduction by the author
H. Stuart Hughes's Oswald Spengler offers a judicious and objective reading of Spengler's works that admirably fUls the gap between hypercritical invective and naive enthusiasm. This pioneering volume makes clear why Spengler's pessimistic reading of the fate of European civilization continues to resonate with contemporary anxieties.
Despite the author's self-imposed Intellectual and social Isolation, Spengler's work was, as Hughes demonstrates, a part of the enormous effort of intellectual réévaluation that has characterized the early twentieth century. Viewing Spengler In the broadest possible perspective, the author places his thought In its cultural relationship to that of such predecessors as Giambattlsta Vlco, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Nikolai Danilevsky and contemporaries Including Benedetto Croce, Henri Bergson, and Vllfredo Pareto. A chapter of Hughes's book Is... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Social and Intellectual History
OSWALD SPENGLER
H. Stuart Hughes
With a new introduction by the author
H. Stuart Hughes's Oswald Spengler offers a judicious and objective reading of Spengler's works that admirably fUls the gap between hypercritical invective and naive enthusiasm. This pioneering volume makes clear why Spengler's pessimistic reading of the fate of European civilization continues to resonate with contemporary anxieties.
Despite the author's self-imposed Intellectual and social Isolation, Spengler's work was, as Hughes demonstrates, a part of the enormous effort of intellectual réévaluation that has characterized the early twentieth century. Viewing Spengler In the broadest possible perspective, the author places his thought In its cultural relationship to that of such predecessors as Giambattlsta Vlco, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Nikolai Danilevsky and contemporaries Including Benedetto Croce, Henri Bergson, and Vllfredo Pareto. A chapter of Hughes's book Is devoted to Spengler's influence on later cyclical thinkers such as Arnold Toynbee and Pltirlm Sorokln. Another chapter clarifies the essentially antagonistic relationship between his thought and Nazi ideology.
Throughout, Hughes Is carefully attuned to the complex and often bewildering shifts of Spengler's Ideas and manner, providing a untfled picture of the sober historian; the lofty seer; the cool, detached observer; and the impassioned participant. In his introduction to this new edition, Hughes comments on the timeliness of Spengler's message with respect to technology and environmental Issues and draws some unexpected and fascinating parallels between Spengler's thought and that of Ludwlg Wittgenstein. Oswald Spengler offers an illuminating view of the achievements and limitations of one of the most Influential and representative figures of the twentieth century. It will be of concern to Intellectual historians, philosophers, political scientists, and sociologists.
About the Author
H. Stuart Hughes is emeritus professor of history at the University of California at San Diego. He was formerly professor of history at Harvard University. Among his many books are Prisoners of Hope: The Silver Age of the Italian Jews, Consciousness and Society. Between Commitment and Disillusion, and Sophisticated Rebels.
Library of Congress: 91-20429
Printed in the U.S.A.
Cover design by Joseph J. Bertucci Vissza