Oswald Spengler Thread🧵
In 1931, Spengler published one of the most idea-dense books of all time:
Man and Technics
It packs hundreds of interesting ideas in 52 pages
Top 13 insights👇🏻
In 1931, Spengler published one of the most idea-dense books of all time:
Man and Technics
It packs hundreds of interesting ideas in 52 pages
Top 13 insights👇🏻
1/ Materialists vs Aesthetes
Materialists only care for technological advancement and prosperity
Aesthetes judge societies by “the number of the pictures and books” it produces
Aesthetes lack a "sense of reality," the materialists suffer from "devastating shallowness"
Materialists only care for technological advancement and prosperity
Aesthetes judge societies by “the number of the pictures and books” it produces
Aesthetes lack a "sense of reality," the materialists suffer from "devastating shallowness"
2/ Triangulating from above, Spengler's ideal man is a realist poet
He has a firm grip on the world
BUT never so tight that all magic and nobility is squeezed out
He has a firm grip on the world
BUT never so tight that all magic and nobility is squeezed out
3/ Utopia v/s Boredom
Some imagine that the best possible future is one without war, inequality, danger (bid farewell to all adventures)
But this "Earthly paradise" won't satisfy us
"Appalling boredom" will set in, and undermine the utopia
Some imagine that the best possible future is one without war, inequality, danger (bid farewell to all adventures)
But this "Earthly paradise" won't satisfy us
"Appalling boredom" will set in, and undermine the utopia
4/ The why > the what
Spengler: "What matters is not how one fashions things, but what one does with them; not the weapon, but the battle"
Technological progress & material improvements are "the what"
What use are all these weapons - if we don't know which battle to fight?
Spengler: "What matters is not how one fashions things, but what one does with them; not the weapon, but the battle"
Technological progress & material improvements are "the what"
What use are all these weapons - if we don't know which battle to fight?
5/ Human eyes are carnivorous
Herbivore eyes are "set sideways," but carnivorous eyes are set next to each other
This gives us a panoramic "wide-angle" vision that can fix on - and pursue - a prey in a landscape
Such eyes can also take stock of the materials & movements in WAR
Herbivore eyes are "set sideways," but carnivorous eyes are set next to each other
This gives us a panoramic "wide-angle" vision that can fix on - and pursue - a prey in a landscape
Such eyes can also take stock of the materials & movements in WAR
6/ The human hand is a "weapon unparalleled" in the history of life
Our hand creates weapons and tools that enhance its power 100x
No other organic appendage can give ITSELF superpowers
Our hand knows hot from cold, solid from liquid - it helps us manipulate and control space
Our hand creates weapons and tools that enhance its power 100x
No other organic appendage can give ITSELF superpowers
Our hand knows hot from cold, solid from liquid - it helps us manipulate and control space
7/ Eye V/S Hand
The human eye OBSERVES, concerned with truth
The human hand WORKS, concerned with action
The eye "seeks out cause and effect"
The hand deals with "means and end"
Humans thrive when truth-seeking and action-seeking instincts are *healthily* balanced
The human eye OBSERVES, concerned with truth
The human hand WORKS, concerned with action
The eye "seeks out cause and effect"
The hand deals with "means and end"
Humans thrive when truth-seeking and action-seeking instincts are *healthily* balanced
8/ HUMAN SPEECH
Spengler writes that the purpose of speech is to improve coordination
Speech evolved to convey "one’s meaning to" and impose "one’s will on” another
Human speech, like the human hand, makes forms of control possible that are *impossible* for other animals
Spengler writes that the purpose of speech is to improve coordination
Speech evolved to convey "one’s meaning to" and impose "one’s will on” another
Human speech, like the human hand, makes forms of control possible that are *impossible* for other animals
9/ Civilization is anti-freedom
As societies get more complex, everyone becomes less free
From the king to the soldier, everyone is now a cog committed to the "enterprise, whatever it may be"
You must stay "in form"
You're a prisoner of the role, unable to take on a new form
As societies get more complex, everyone becomes less free
From the king to the soldier, everyone is now a cog committed to the "enterprise, whatever it may be"
You must stay "in form"
You're a prisoner of the role, unable to take on a new form
10/ Tightly organized societies make man a caged animal
Spengler writes that the EXCEPTIONAL man rebels against the "spiritual and intellectual" shackles placed on him
He seeks an escape from humanity via different means: "lordship over it, flight from it, contempt for it"
Spengler writes that the EXCEPTIONAL man rebels against the "spiritual and intellectual" shackles placed on him
He seeks an escape from humanity via different means: "lordship over it, flight from it, contempt for it"
11/ Whether a man is lording over the world, fleeing from it, or deriding it -
It's all a "reaction against" being submerged in the masses
Spengler notes that "the conqueror, the adventurer, the hermit, the criminals and the bohemian" have more in common than they think
It's all a "reaction against" being submerged in the masses
Spengler notes that "the conqueror, the adventurer, the hermit, the criminals and the bohemian" have more in common than they think
12/ Spengler saw the hippies coming
In 1931, Spengler wrote that people will soon get "sick of machines"
Instead of fighting with nature, they'll prefer a simpler life that's "nearer to Nature"
Modern cities will be hated
People will run from "the pressure of soulless facts"
In 1931, Spengler wrote that people will soon get "sick of machines"
Instead of fighting with nature, they'll prefer a simpler life that's "nearer to Nature"
Modern cities will be hated
People will run from "the pressure of soulless facts"
13/ Spengler on the human soul:
"It stands in irreconcilable opposition to the whole world, from which its own creativeness has sundered it.
It is the soul of an UPSTART."
Other animals face an immovable landscape
Humans face, relatively speaking, a *blank canvas*
"It stands in irreconcilable opposition to the whole world, from which its own creativeness has sundered it.
It is the soul of an UPSTART."
Other animals face an immovable landscape
Humans face, relatively speaking, a *blank canvas*
Oswald Spengler ends Man and Technics (1931) with the greatest last paragraph I've possibly ever read
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