The Decline Of The West – Volume I: Form And Actuality – Oswald Spengler – Canonball 64

In this episode of Canonball we discuss Volume I of "The Decline Of The West," which, subtitled "Form And Actuality," was written by Oswald Spengler and published in 1918.

A correction: Spengler actually includes in the end matter exactly the kind of table that I said that I wished he had, but I had not seen it by the time I made this recording. I address this in looking at Volume II in another video.

Listen to this podcast on any of several dozen podcast platforms, most of which have no ads, at this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2132180/share

Get a copy of my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website: https://www.vollrathpublishing.com

00:00 Spengler's Life – Education, Career, Fame, Criticism, And Politics

05:58 A Very General Outline Of A Central Argument In "Decline Of The West"

08:50 The Faustian Period

10:14 Strengths And Weaknesses

19:05 Beginning Of Passages – Spengler's Basic Questions And The "Ptolemaic" View Of History

24:34 "World-History As A Picture Of Endless Formations And Transformations, Of The Marvelous Waxing And Waning Of Organic Forms"

25:18 "Expression-Forms" And "Sound-Symbols"

27:53 How Spengler Uses The Terms "Culture" And "Civilization"

30:36 The Decline Of The West

33:03 An Anecdote About How Spengler Came To This View Of History

40:27 Euclidian Geometry And Infinitesimal Calculus As Representing The Classical And The Faustian

41:43 "A Strange And Vast Tone-World"

43:16 Pythagoras, Descartes, And Different Notions Of Number

44:59 "The Moon, Too, Seems To Us Bigger Than Jupiter Or Saturn"

47:08 Mathematicians As An Expression Of The Soul Of A Culture

48:53 How Different Cultures Have Kept Historical Records

50:45 The Death Of An Art

52:13 Music And "Pure Space"

53:59 Math, Music, The Violin, And Chamber Music

56:04 Struggle As An Ethical Principle

57:48 Closing