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Wittgenstein and Spengler

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2010

William James DeAngelis
William James DeAngelis
Affiliation:
Northeastern University
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Extract

In 1931, writing in a personal journal, Wittgenstein enumerated the names of those thinkers whom he deemed to have been his most important intellectual influences. He makes the strong claim that these are thinkers whose seminal ideas he has taken over, further elaborated and incorporated into his own work. Here are the names he lists in their order of appearance: Boltzmann, Hertz, Schopenhauer, Frege, Russell, Kraus, Loos, Weininger, Spengler, Sraffa. At the time of the first publication of this list in Culture and Value, those familiar primarily with the most widely read and influential writings on Wittgenstein and his philosophical influences, Norman Malcolm's Memoir (including Von Wright's introduction) and Toulmin and Janik's Wittgenstein's Vienna, would most likely have been surprised by the inclusion of Spengler's name. His is the only one on the list that does not appear in either book. Every other thinker named is not only mentioned as an influence on Wittgenstein in one or the other work, but some of the purported details of that influence are offered. And the appearance of Spengler's name is doubly surprising, given the relatively low esteem in which his work is generally held. Of the others listed, perhaps only Weininger fails to emerge as a respected figure.

Type
Articles
Information
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , Winter 1994 , pp. 41 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 1994

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References

Notes

1 Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Culture and Value, edited by Wright, G. H. von in collab-oration with Heikki Nyman (Oxford: Blackwell, 1980), p. 19e.Google Scholar

2 Gardner, Patrick, ed., Theories of History (London: Collier MacMillan, 1959), especially pp. 188-89 and 200–1,Google Scholar in which the editor discusses, compares and criticizes the methodologies of Spengler and Toynbee; and pp. 207-8, in which Toynbee discusses and criticizes Spengler. In addition, Dray's entry on Spengler in Encyclopedia of Philosophy (cited in detail below) offers some similar criticisms as well as a few of his own.

3 Wright, G. H. von, “Wittgenstein in Relation to His Times,” in Wittgenstein and His Times, edited by McGuinness, Brian (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1982).Google Scholar

4 Cavell, Stanley, “Declining Decline: Wittgenstein as a Philosopher of Culture,” Inquiry, 31, 3, (September 1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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6 Dray, Stephen, s.v. “Spengler, Oswald,” Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 7, edited by Edwards, Paul (New York: MacMillan, 1967), p. 529.Google Scholar

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8 Wittgenstein, Culture and Value, p. 14e.

9 Wright, von, “Wittgenstein in Relation to His Times,” p. 116.Google Scholar

10 Spengler, Oswald, Decline of the West, vol. 1 (New York: Modern Library, 1965), p. 25.Google Scholar

11 Ibid., p. 34.

12 Ibid., p. 40.

13 Dray, , “Spengler,” p. 528.Google Scholar

14 Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Remarks on Frazer's “Golden Bough,” edited by Rhees, Rush (Retford: Brynmill, 1979), p. 5.Google Scholar

15 Ibid., p. 6.

16 Drury, , “Conversations with Wittgenstein,” p. 128.Google Scholar

17 Ibid.

18 Wittgenstein, , Culture and Value, p. 14e.Google Scholar

19 Ibid., p. 7e.

20 Ibid.

21 All of these brief excerpts may be found on pp. 6e-7e of Culture and Value.

22 Spengler, , Decline of the West, vol. 1, p. 31.Google Scholar

23 Ibid., p. 32.

24 Ibid., p. 40.

25 Ibid., p. 358.

26 Ibid., p. 359.

27 Drury, , “Conversations With Wittgenstein,” p. 93.Google Scholar

28 Ibid., pp. 93-94.

29 Bouwsma, O. K., Wittgenstein: Conversations 1949-1951 (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1986), p. 34.Google Scholar

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31 Spengler, , Decline of the West, vol. 2, p. 45.Google Scholar

32 Ibid., p. 23.

33 Ibid., pp. 45-46. Spengler's emphasis.

34 Ibid., p. 42.

35 Ibid., p. 45.

36 Ibid., p. 41.

37 As I reread these remarks, it strikes me that I have been more influenced by Cavell's “Declining Decline” than I heretofore realized. I think this influence ex-tends even to my following remarks on the connection between Wittgenstein's cultural concerns and the private language argument, which, as far as I know, Cavell has not discussed.

38 Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Philosophical Investigations, translated by Anscombe, G. E. M. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1967), p. ii.Google Scholar