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Oswald Spengler
German philosopher
Quick Facts
Oswald Spengler (born May 29, 1880, Blankenburg, Germany—died May 8, 1936, Munich) was a German philosopher whose reputation rests entirely on his influential study Der Untergang des Abendlandes, 2 vol. (1918–22; The Decline of the West), a major contribution to social theory. After taking his doctorate at the University of Halle (1904), Spengler worked as a schoolmaster until 1911, when he went to live in Munich on a small inheritance and began work on Der Untergang. The first volume, published in 1918, won him immediate acclaim from the general public. The second volume followed in 1922, and a revised edition ...(100 of 337 words)