Should I even attempt to read this?
>>7230152
Why not?
you can just read birth of tragedy instead
Because it isn't /pol/ the book as you might be led to believe.
Yee. JUST DO IT.
JUST
Pleb answer but anytime I am deciding whether to read something I'll check out the Goodreads quotes page and see if the writing resounds with me.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/88483.Oswald_Spengler
>>7230299
This.
Cringe everytime 12 year olds post it in /pol/ book threads.
I don't know why anyone would want to read that, though I can think of many reasons not to.
>>7230759
Because?
Absolutely.
One of the most fascinating inferences Spengler appears to make is the notion that the Classical mathematicians failed to discover negative numbers because unlike Babylon and India, they did not have a vast amount of minorities. He's right on the verge of saying this explicitly, but he doesn't do it. This has many implications associated with it.
It makes you think about the influence of Babylon and Persia on Russia for example. Russian chess genius is the most obvious example.
>>7232339
I want to hear more.
I found it pretty good. His work is based on observation of reality and history however so if you're used to Marxist or post modern philosophy the transition may be jarring.
>>7232358
Spengler is great for making very lateral arguments on development based on contemporary cultural characteristics. Another one which blew my mind was the notion that numerical assignation is inherently related not just to social conditions, but to the pagan pantheon of gods. That's quite a head-twister, but there may be some validity to it.
>>7230152
I say you should read this if you want a novel perspective revolving around historical philosophy.
>>7232358
Spengler is also very okay with having two culturally different kinds of maths. The Classical mathematicians had their own way of viewing the world which made their work possible, as odd as it may seem to us today, they couldn't conceive of a zero much less a -2.
There are some thought provoking insights that Spengler makes into it.
In addition, the text greatly helped the entire world-systems theory genre of writing during the past century.
Go for it, criticize it, challenge it, and gain another's perspective.
>>7230152
Terrible historian on Rome.
