Decline of the West, Volume One - Oswald Spengler | Part 1, Reading & Discussion

Alright folks. We're back.

Things are getting frigid and soon-to-be frosty, wool is being dusted off, pumpkins are rotting, and the joy of a summer sun has become alien and irritating in its absence. So, in honor of our all growing seasonally dour, I reckon it's high time to dive in to our second sortie into the right - right?

Last season, we spent our Sundays sputtering on about the brief and semi-accessible essays of Guénon & Evola, Ellul & Jünger. So, here we will be following this legacy with a 500-page text that is Volume 1 of 2. Paglia went unfinished, Weil was largely ignored (grudge is actively held), and the remnants of Nietzsche at Night are still out there haunting TALEA Beer Co.

My dearest iconoclasts, it is our duty to see this one through.

For season two, we will offer our hungry and hesitant hands to be initially led by the Weimar German "Conservative Revolutionary" Oswald Spengler and his 1918 text The Decline of the West: Form & Actuality.

In classic fashion, we will be reading Chapters 1 through 3. So, Chapter 1: Introduction, Chapter 2: The Meaning of Numbers, Chapter 3: The Problem of World History (I). If you're reading the Arktos edition(https://www.amazon.com/Decline-West-Form-Actuality/dp/1912975602) (which I recommend everyone do), this will be around 152 pages. If that sounds like too many pages, read 151.

Here are two free PDF versions of the text: One(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/The_Decline_of_the_West.pdf) aaaaaaand Two(https://antilogicalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/decline_of_the_west.pdf).
All are the same translation from Charles Francis Atkinson so ultimately, it does not matter. Work with whatever works with you.

As always, if you're unable to complete the book prior to our meeting, no worries - it's lengthy so we're just happy to have you and welcome whatever insights, critiques, questions, etc. you may have based on what you were able to read. That said, you will be referred to as slacker, unfinisher, almost-there-er, etc. the entire time.

We will be meeting in the Ace Hotel lobby on W 29th. There is coffee, breakfast, and booze. Message me the day of if you can't find us. We usually sit toward the back of the lobby next to the bar.

As always, this group is open to newcomers to Spengler, novices of philosophy, history, aesthetics, etc., ragamuffins, ne'er-do-wells, urchins of all sorts, etc. All insights are encouraged, just be somewhat sensible and all the way cool. Ain't no fun to be found in nodding your head along with a thinker for a hundred pages - strive to disagree, with decency.

Alright, looking forward to it - again, reach out to me with any questions or concerns in the meantime.

Happy to be back,

Hamp

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