Decline of the West, Volume Two - Oswald Spengler | Part 2, Reading & Discussion

Alright folks.

This will be the second edition in our exploration of Oswald Spengler's 1922 follow-up to 1918's The Decline of the West: Form & Actuality - from henceforth, as it might be known to those who know, Perspectives of World-History will be our primary concern - Origins & Landscapes now become Cities & Peoples.

At this point, my yapping is of no use. Either you are aboard our Spenglerian ship, sailing toward an ultimate understanding of our withering Faustian Soul, or you are left behind, pulled still toward the phantom of Progress upon static shores, brushing elbows with other Civilization-Men and their faulty factoids to assuage ye World-Fear. I can do no more - enjoy Sartre.

For this session, we will be reading Chapter 4: Cities & Peoples - A. The Soul of the City, Chapter 5: Cities & Peoples - B. Peoples, Races, Tongues, and Chapter 6: Cities & Peoples - C. Primitives, Culture-Peoples, Fellaheen. If you're reading the Arktos Edition (which I recommend everyone do), this will be around 128 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. Imagine if I deprived my fellow Faustian's their desire to sing, speak, spit, and spout?
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 babble with us.

For those who have missed the first six sessions, I've been working needlessly hard on compiling 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