Spengler Smart
BOOK:
The Decline of the West
by Oswald Spengler
1917
We like to think we’re smart. I don’t mean personally, or like Yogi, who is certainly smarter than the average bear… I mean as a society, as a civilization.
We are way smarter than our ancestors. We’ve got smart cars, smart bombs, even smart TVs. Look at all the cool gadgets we have… and now most of them fit in our pocket. You had to be smart to figure that out.
Hmm, smart and the ability to miniaturize might not be mutually exclusive. Granted, the people who designed such things are smart, at least in one specific way. But just because you can use these devices, it does not mean you’re intelligent, or mutually inclusive.
What is smart though?
Of course I mean intelligence, reasoning, logic. Thinking, it’s sometimes said, is the ability to differentiate between various things, sort of like making a choice. That’s a pretty narrow definition. It leaves out the emotional quotient (E.Q.), and street smarts. Let’s leave them both on the boulevard for now. Let’s talk about intellect.
Why am I gong on and on about all this?
It’s because I just picked up an old book and started reading. It’s from a hundred years ago, a philosophy book titled “The Decline of the West” by Oswald Spengler. It was written in 1917, the distant past, and the first thing I noticed was the author is way smarter than we could ever hope to be.
This particular treatise is filled with long sentences, and lots of commas. It takes effort and attention to follow. It’s a book about history, not events, but the way we look at history. Spengler is smart and challenging; his ideas spring from thinking, and thinking long and hard.
An irony perhaps… Our civilization is distracted, impatient, scattered, pulled in all directions, and preferring to be entertained… The Decline of the West indeed. And yet the irony lies in the fact that we are still just smart enough to understand what Spengler is saying.
The Decline of the West
by Oswald Spengler
1917
We like to think we’re smart. I don’t mean personally, or like Yogi, who is certainly smarter than the average bear… I mean as a society, as a civilization.
We are way smarter than our ancestors. We’ve got smart cars, smart bombs, even smart TVs. Look at all the cool gadgets we have… and now most of them fit in our pocket. You had to be smart to figure that out.
Hmm, smart and the ability to miniaturize might not be mutually exclusive. Granted, the people who designed such things are smart, at least in one specific way. But just because you can use these devices, it does not mean you’re intelligent, or mutually inclusive.
What is smart though?
Of course I mean intelligence, reasoning, logic. Thinking, it’s sometimes said, is the ability to differentiate between various things, sort of like making a choice. That’s a pretty narrow definition. It leaves out the emotional quotient (E.Q.), and street smarts. Let’s leave them both on the boulevard for now. Let’s talk about intellect.
Why am I gong on and on about all this?
It’s because I just picked up an old book and started reading. It’s from a hundred years ago, a philosophy book titled “The Decline of the West” by Oswald Spengler. It was written in 1917, the distant past, and the first thing I noticed was the author is way smarter than we could ever hope to be.
This particular treatise is filled with long sentences, and lots of commas. It takes effort and attention to follow. It’s a book about history, not events, but the way we look at history. Spengler is smart and challenging; his ideas spring from thinking, and thinking long and hard.
An irony perhaps… Our civilization is distracted, impatient, scattered, pulled in all directions, and preferring to be entertained… The Decline of the West indeed. And yet the irony lies in the fact that we are still just smart enough to understand what Spengler is saying.
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