Spengler - Oswald Spengler

German cultural philosopher, historian, and political commentator. Born in Blankenburg, he studied at universities in Halle, Munich, Berlin, and elsewhere. His main research subjects were mathematics and natural sciences, but he was also strongly drawn to philosophy, and his doctoral thesis was on Heraclitus. He then became a high school teacher in Hamburg and other places, and in 1911 moved to Munich to begin his life as a writer. The Second Moroccan Incident sparked the idea for a grand work that captured his imagination. After several years of reflection and revision, this was none other than The Decline of the West, the first volume of which was published in 1918 (the second volume was published in 1922). This book, which surveys world history using the organic method of morphology and predicts the decline of Western culture, became a huge bestseller in Germany after World War I, causing a great stir. In the harsh political situation of postwar Germany, where confusion and reconstruction were the norm, he tried to realize his ideological stance as a political commentator, but was thwarted by the rise of Nazism. This was a tragedy that occurred because he took a position close to Nazism, even though he was opposed to it at first. Although he looked up to Goethe and Nietzsche as his mentors, he was unable to remain within the "philosophy of life" that followed Dilthey, probably because of his belief that politics is the essence of life. In history, too, the victory of the "will to power" was an issue. However, despite being based on a view of history that sees the decline of civilization as the inevitable fate of culture, his paradigm of comparative research between cultures was inherited by Toynbee and others and will continue to be one of the sources of research into world history in the future.

[Masahiko Kamikawa]

"The Decline of the West, translated by Masatoshi Muramatsu, 2 volumes (2007, Satsuki Shobo)" ▽ "Fate, History, Politics, edited by H. Kornhardt, translated by Yasumasa Hatta (1960, Risosha)" ▽ "The Fate of the Twentieth Century: The Thoughts of Spengler, by S. Hughes, translated by Gentaro Kawakami (Choshinsho)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ドイツの文化哲学者、歴史家、政治評論家。ブランケンブルクに生まれ、ハレ、ミュンヘン、ベルリンなど諸大学に学ぶ。数学と自然科学が主要な研究科目であったが、哲学にも強くひかれ、学位論文はヘラクレイトスに関するものであった。その後ハンブルクなどで高校の教職につき、1911年にミュンヘンに居を移し文筆生活に入る。そして、ある雄大な作品の構想が第二次モロッコ事件を契機に彼をとらえる。それが、数年の思索と推敲(すいこう)ののち、1918年に第1巻が刊行された『西洋の没落』（第2巻1922年刊）にほかならない。世界史を形態学という有機体的な方法によって概観し、西欧文化の没落を予言した本書は第一次世界大戦後のドイツで大ベストセラーとなり、大きな波紋をよんだ。混乱と再建の渦巻く敗戦後のドイツの過酷な政治状況のなかで、政治評論家としてその思想的立場を実現しようと求めたが、ナチズムの台頭によって挫折(ざせつ)する。つとにナチズムに反対しながらも、それに近接する立場をとったために起こった悲劇であった。ゲーテとニーチェを師と仰ぎながら、ディルタイの流れをくむ「生の哲学」のうちにとどまりえなかったのも、政治こそ生の核心であるとしたその志のためであろう。歴史においても「力への意志」の勝利が問題であった。だが、文明は文化の不可避的な運命だと考える没落史観を背景に置きながらも、文化と文明の比較研究というパラダイムはトインビーなどに受け継がれ、今後の世界史探究の源泉の一つであり続けよう。

［神川正彦］

『村松正俊訳『西洋の没落』全2巻（2007・五月書房）』▽『H・コルンハルト編、八田恭昌訳『運命・歴史・政治』（1960・理想社）』▽『S・ヒューズ著、川上源太郎訳『二十世紀の運命――シュペングラーの思想』（潮新書）』

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