Test of The Theory
Some, such as Amaury de Riencourt in The Coming Caesars, maintain that Spengler's predictions have been borne out as the United States has pushed aside the other powers of the West and established a Pax Americana. De Reincourt's work suggested that the United States of America would enter its Caesarian phase in the 1990s. They also point to trends in arts and philosophy.
On the other hand, it has been argued that Spengler believed that the West's final, "Caesaristic" phase was destined to be fulfilled under German domination; Germany's defeat in the two World Wars has therefore prevented that transition from taking place. Spengler did of course warn that Hitler was not the right man to guide Europe into the preliminary stages of Caesarism; he thought that Hitler would badly mishandle the whole process.
Read more about this topic: The Decline Of The West
Famous quotes containing the words test of the, test of, test and/or theory:
“[17th-century] Puritans were the first modern parents. Like many of us, they looked on their treatment of children as a test of their own self-control. Their goal was not to simply to ensure the childs duty to the family, but to help him or her make personal, individual commitments. They were the first authors to state that children must obey God rather than parents, in case of a clear conflict.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“A test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are found in it, not pleasure. What is pleasant belongs to dreams.”
—Simone Weil (19091943)
“It is commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humour, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (16941773)
“It makes no sense to say what the objects of a theory are,
beyond saying how to interpret or reinterpret that theory in another.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)