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39
Decline of the West, Volume Two - Oswald Spengler | Part 1, Reading & Discussion
Ace Hotel New York, 20 West 29th Street, New York, NY, USAlright folks.
This will be the first edition in our exploration of Oswald Spengler's 1922 follow-up to 1918's The Decline of the West: Form & Actuality - from henceforth, Perspectives of World-History will be our primary concern.
Behind us are the lengthy considerations of Rembrandt's studio-brown, the deliberations on varieties of garden-art, the confusion surrounding hatred of plein-air, the bickering over the Renaissance as a revolt of plastic poseurs, the vague definitions of pseudomorphosis, the designation of the Apollonian as a world-fearing faction of fumbling body-obsessed buffoons. Certainly this is behind us. It must be. How could it not be.
For this initial session, we will be reading Chapter 1: Origin and Landscape - A. The Cosmic & the Microcosm, Chapter 2: Origin and Landscape - B. The Group of the Higher Cultures, and Chapter 3: Origin and Landscape - C. The Relations Between the Cultures. If you're reading the Arktos Edition (which I recommend everyone do), this will be around 105 pages.
Here is a free PDF version of the text: Ta-da. Volume 2 starts on page 461 of the PDF.
It's the same translation from Charles Francis Atkinson across the board so, ultimately, it does not matter whether you proceed via the PDF or the printed copy from Arktos or any of the other sellers on Amazon. Work with whatever works with you.As always, if you're unable to complete the reading prior to our meeting, no worries - it's dense and semi-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, given that this is the second volume of a ~1300 page text, at least bother to read the Wikipedia before deciding to come yap with us.
For those who have missed the first five sessions, I've been working needlessly hard on compiling a Spenglerian glossary that provides definitions for most of what has been covered so far. I'll provide an updated version closer to the meeting, but in the meantime, you can access it here: link link link. Let me know if you have issues.
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.
Looking forward,
Hamp
13 attendees
Of Grammatology (week 2)
Art Cafe, 884 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, NY, USJoin us for weekly discussions of Jacques Derrida's 1967 deconstruction of the speech/writing binary in western philosophy, Of Grammatology.
Required reading for this meeting: ch. 2 Linguistics and Grammatology (pg. 29) up to The Hinge [La Brisure] (pg. 71)
Most of us are reading the 2016 edition of the book. We plan to meet weekly and work our way through the whole book about 30–40 pages at a time.
We'll be meeting at Art Cafe + Bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
This event is free but we're all still socially obligated to purchase something, and Art Cafe is a cool place that we should support! They have a bar and they serve coffee and tea among other non-alcoholic drinks, as well as food.
9 attendees
Reading Schopenhauer: The World as Will and Representation
·OnlineOnlineNote:
This group is currently underway. I have closed it for RSVP for now. I may open it in the future if we need more attendees. I am managing the RSVP's off meetup for this event so the attendees here are not an accurate reflection of what we have, we currently have about 15 people, if there are dropouts or changes I can reopen for new people.------
Hi Folks,Please join us for a slow and close reading of Arthur Schopenhauer’s magnum opus, The World as Will and Representation.
Schopenhauer is incredibly important as:
- One of the first major Western philosophers to deeply integrate Eastern ideas (after studying the Upanishads and Buddhist thought)
- One of the earliest Western philosophers to build a comprehensive atheistic worldview
- A major critic of Kantian philosophy, reshaping Kant’s “thing-in-itself” into his own concept of the Will
- An outspoken opponent of Hegel, his contemporary and rival professor at the University of Berlin
- The primary philosophical influence on Nietzsche, who regarded Schopenhauer as his great educator
Schopenhauer introduces the Will as the thing-in-itself — the inner reality underlying all appearances. His metaphysics explores how human desire drives suffering, and how we can transcend it through compassion, selflessness, and creative expression, especially through art.
### 📖 Apply to Join
This text is challenging but rewarding. To get the most out of it, you’ll need:
- Some background in Kantian philosophy (especially the principle of sufficient reason, the phenomenal / noumenal divide and Kant's "architectonic"); familiarity with Eastern thought is a plus
- The ability to closely read and interpret complex philosophical arguments
- The communication and social skills to express ideas clearly in discussion
You can apply to join by first RSVP'ing to this event, then filling out the Google Form survey linked on this event's location page — I’ll review responses personally.
### 📚 Reading & Participation
We’ll read this text slowly and carefully, around 20 pages per week for about six months — over the colder months, as Schopenhauer would have wanted! It's not a live reading, so you'll need to spend the hour or so reading in advance of attending, this is a must.
We’ll be reading Volume 1 of his work. I’ll be using the Cambridge edition, and you can find a tentative schedule linked here.
We will also decide a lot of things, also if people can join mid way through, by voting with the existing group.### 💬 Discussion Format
Our FAQ outlines how we generally run these sessions. Depending on group size, we may adjust — for example, adding breakout groups or rotating discussion leaders. If you’re interested in co-hosting, please reach out — that would be wonderful. Importantly I am not teaching this material, we are co-travelers exploring it together.
### 📬 Contact Us
Have questions or feedback? Reach out via our Meetup message to me.
I’m genuinely excited to read this with you. I’ve read some Schopenhauer before and listened to this work on audiobook, but I believe a real, close read together will be transformative.
Kind Regards,
Ryan2 attendees
Hermetica Series Books XVI - XVIII
·OnlineOnlineThe Corpus Hermeticum series is a deep dive into major hermetic texts.
Our aim is to seriously consider religious and philosophical ideas of Hermetica to help us find the North Star in an ever changing landscape of 21st century.
We will search for truths we can apply to our lives to help us dig ourselves out of the depressive, materialistic worm hole.
Let's see what we discover.
Our bounce board will be Brian Copenhaver's "Hermetica" which is the most recent and complete translation. You can purchase it here or I was able to download it for free here
Alternatively, there is Walter Scott translation (early 20th century) here and free download is available hereComing up:
Asclepius (26 pages)
Discourse on 8th and 9th for Nag Hammadi Library (will probably include of the less known gospels in here (gospel of Mary, or some other fascinating section) free download hereWe will meet every Thursday evening at 7 pm on Zoom.
Expectations are that you will do the reading assigned for that session and participate respectfully.4 attendees
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