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/lit/ - Literature

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18720322 No.18720322 [Reply] [Original]

What do I have to read before I can understand it?

>> No.18720509

>>18720322
It's Philosophy of history. You should know history before + Herodotus and Euclid, if you can't understand the references

>> No.18720514
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18720514

>>18720322
Get this book. Read the final 200 pages which is the section with Goethe's essays on philosophy and art. You will not be able to properly understand Spengler without first understanding Goethe.

>> No.18720519

>>18720322
it's fairly straight forward desu. the math stuff in the beginning is just germanoid fluff meant to build up momentum, you can just gloss over it.

>> No.18720555

If you don't understand something based on a reference you can always look into it later. I disagree with the idea that Spengler requires dense previous knowledge, except to perhaps contextualize him in German philosophy. He explicitly names Goethe and Nietzsche as his inspirations.
If you have a basic understanding of classical and western history, I think you can follow along.
There is a sense in which the book is a series of episodes with light variations on one thesis. It may seem dense and intimidating, but approaching like this will help.

>> No.18720569

>>18720322
Goethe and Nietzsche are his two poles. Germans, but poles.

>> No.18721460

>>18720569
Good joke.

>> No.18721464
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18721464

>>18720514
>The

>> No.18722216

>>18720322
To understand it completely, you probably need to read most of the Western canon, most major Western philosophers, you need to understand calculus and its history, you need to understand most of Western history, and you need to have a passing knowledge of the history of Greece, Rome, and a few other civilizations.

>> No.18722223

>>18722216
Please, be serious.

>> No.18723188

>>18722223
he is being serious.
You should also have seen most of the grand pieces of european art and european architecture in person, otherwise you will just have to take his elaborations on them in good faith.
Nürnberg, Florence, Paris, Athens, Amsterdam, Rome, Munich (he lived there, so its museums have a unique influence) should all have been visited.

and somehow most forget to mention: Kant; he is the pole opposite to Goethe, not as one anon said Nietzsche, which is simply retarded

>> No.18723191

>>18720322
Nothing, the whole thing is conjecture.

>> No.18723230

>>18723191
Your mom is also a conjecture