《西方的衰落》（1917年出版的第一卷，1922年出版的第二卷）从那时起就一直在考验和挑战人们的观点。奥斯瓦尔德·斯宾格勒（Oswald Spengler，1880-1936）曾是一位未出版的历史学家和哲学家，他开始从根本上重新思考历史——世界文明及其文化的兴衰。
他的主要观点是拒绝已确立的欧洲中心主义范式（古代/古典、中世纪，以及文艺复兴后的现代），并采取全新的视角。首先，他的意图是提供一个世界概览；在此基础上提出并讨论一个前提，即人类历史的故事在全球任何地方都遵循一个基本模式。他特别感兴趣的是不同文化的特点（通过科学、数学和艺术的发展而形成）。他确定的主要文化有巴比伦、埃及、中国、印度、中美洲（玛雅-阿兹特克）、古典（希腊/罗马）、阿拉伯和西方（欧洲和美国）。斯宾格勒提出了另一个划分——三个不同的阶段：Magian（由一神教主导的社会——波斯和闪米特宗教）、Apollonian（古希腊和罗马）和Faustian（他那个时代的“现代西方社会”）。所有这些文明都以季节性的形式出现和衰落，用春、夏、秋、冬来描述。在这张地图的背景下是细节。
斯宾格勒利用他的博览群书来讲述故事，制作链接，在图案中添加墨水。他广博的资料来源和见解，以及（明确定义的）观点，令人着迷，往往有说服力，但有时会引起争议。不可避免的是，对于这样一部雄心勃勃的作品，它从一开始就引起了争议。当然，对于一代人来说，这是必读的。
它最早出现在德国（最终于1923年出版成一卷，并被翻译成其他语言），它的受欢迎程度受到时间的影响。它既受到赞赏，也受到批评，其基础是一个经历了严重经济和心理困难的德国，但却被纳粹主义的崛起所推翻。斯宾格勒拒绝接受纳粹主义的种族主义，但他的强烈态度（毫无歉意地承认“帝国”个人对历史的影响，无论是通过军事、政治还是商业活动）往往被描述为一贯的右翼。毫不奇怪，西方的衰落在学术界时而流行，时而过时，但在其更受欢迎的吸引力方面也是如此。然而，在21世纪急剧变化的世界中，存在着不可忽视的共鸣。
斯宾格勒的两位主要导师之一（另一位是尼采）歌德说：“行动的人总是没有良心的。”。但斯宾格勒的结论是明确的——正如一位评论员所写，“斯宾格勒关于西欧将失去世界霸权的预言已经实现。难道西方文化也要衰落吗？”斯宾格勒被指责为悲观主义者，《西方的衰落》无疑是一本不容妥协的书。但在序言中，他对自己的目的基本上是谨慎的：“有历史的逻辑吗？”？除了这一单独事件的所有偶然和不可计算的因素之外，是否还有一种我们可以称之为历史人性的形而上学结构，一种本质上独立于我们如此清楚地看到的外在形式——社会、精神和政治形式的结构？”
彼得·威克姆（Peter Wickham）在记录主要经典文本方面有着广泛的背景，使这部巨大的作品成为一次引人入胜的聆听体验。翻译：查尔斯·弗朗西斯·阿特金森。
The Decline of the West, Vol 1: Form and Actuality; Vol 2: Perspectives of World History (Audiobook)
The Decline of the West – Volume 1 published in 1917, Volume 2 in 1922 – has exercised and challenged opinion ever since. It was a huge undertaking by Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), formerly an unpublished historian and philosopher who set out to radically reconsider history – the rise and fall of world civilisations and their cultures.
His primary view was to reject the established Eurocentric paradigm (ancient/classical, Medieval – and, following the Renaissance – modern) and to take a totally new perspective. First and foremost, his intention was to offer a world overview; and on that basis to present and discuss the premise that the story of the history of man followed a fundamental pattern wherever on the globe it arose. Of particular interest to him were the characteristics of the separate and distinct cultures (established through developments in science, mathematics and the arts). The major cultures he identifies are Babylonian, Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Mesoamerican (Mayan-Aztec), classical (Greek/Roman), Arabian and Western (European and American). Spengler offered another division – three distinct phases: Magian (societies dominated by monotheism – Persian as well as Semitic religions), Apollonian (ancient Greece and Rome) and Faustian (the ‘modern Western societies’ of his time). All these civilisations can be seen to emerge and decline in seasonal form depicted in terms of spring, summer, autumn, winter. Within the context of this map comes the detail.
Spengler drew on his broad reading to tell the story, to make the links, to ink in the patterns. His breadth of sources and insights of observations and (strongly defined) opinions is fascinating and often persuasive but sometimes contentious. Inevitably, for such an ambitious work, it has garnered controversy since it first appeared. Certainly for a generation it was required reading.
First appearing in Germany (it was finally released in one volume in 1923 and translated into other languages) its reception was coloured by the timing. Both admired and criticised, it had its base in a Germany undergoing severe economic and psychological difficulties, only to be swept aside by the rise of Nazism. Spengler rejected the racism of Nazism, but his strong attitudes (acknowledging, unapologetically, the effect of ‘imperial’ individuals on history, whether through military, political or commercial activities) were often characterised as unfailingly right-wing. Not surprisingly, The Decline of the West has been in and out of fashion in the academic world, but also in its more popular appeal. However, in the dramatically changing world of the 21st century, there are resonances which are impossible to ignore.
‘The man of action is always conscienceless,’ said Goethe, one of Spengler’s two main mentors (the other is Nietzsche). But Spengler is unequivocal in his conclusion – as one commentator wrote, ‘Spengler’s prophecy that Western Europe would lose its world hegemony has been fulfilled. Must Western culture also go under?’ Spengler has been accused of pessimism, and The Decline of the West is certainly an uncompromising book to read. But in the preface he is essentially circumspect about his purpose: ‘Is there a logic of history? Is there, beyond all the casual and incalculable elements of the separate event, something that we may call a metaphysical structure of historic humanity, something that is essentially independent of outward forms – social, spiritual and political – which we see so clearly?’
Peter Wickham brings his extensive background in the recording of major classical texts to make this immense work an absorbing listening experience. Translation: Charles Francis Atkinson.
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