Decline of the West, Volume One - Oswald Spengler | Part 3, Reading & Discussion

Alright folks.

This will be the third edition in our exploration of Oswald Spengler and his 1918 text The Decline of the West: Form & Actuality. As our sought-after definitions go unfound and more terminology is introduced by the page, join our sinking ship of scrambling snarky rats trying to make sense of seemingly-simple words such as Destiny, Nature, Incident, Distance, and Extension while Spengler takes a blowtorch to our brains.

For this session, we will be reading and discussing Chapter VI: Makrokosmos (II): Apollonian, Faustian, & Magian Soul and Chapter VII: Music & Plastic (I): The Arts of Form. If you're reading the Arktos edition (which I recommend everyone do), this will be around 99 pages. We will be doing lighter readings going forward, because there are stand-alone pages in this text that we could easily spend two hours discussing. Stick with us, it'll all be utterly life-changing and worth it.

Here are two free PDF versions of the text: One aaaaaaand Two.
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 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.

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