Prussian Socialism Episode 27: Oswald Spengler Decline of the West

Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West offered a radical new interpretation of history. Published at the end of WWI, Spengler attacks the conventional notions of how history should be written and studied.

He posits that history should not be viewed as a world-wide series of developments leading to the present moment, but instead that there have been 8 great cultures, each lasting about 1000 years, with each undergoing an analogous series of spiritual, artistic and political developments.

In this lecture, Gregory Conte outlines the basic ideas of Spengler's philosophy of history and applies them to today.