The image of a city through the prism of cultural-philosophical concept introduced by Oswald Spengler.
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Дата
2017
Назва журналу
Номер ISSN
Назва тому
Видавець
Університет імені Альфреда Нобеля
Анотація
The article studies the problem of city formation as a cultural phenomenon in the concept
introduced by Oswald Spengler. We analyze how the urban consciousness, as a free spirit which is
transubstantial in art, was formed.
Опис
Many scholars believe that a city is an integral part of such a paradigm as nature –
history – culture. Thus, Oswald Spengler sees a culture as a single living organism
with different stages of development – birth, growth, aging and dying – and connects
its nature with the peculiarities of the landscape on the grounds of which any culture appears and
develops. The landscape, being a natural space, is one of the basic elements contributing to the
formation of a city which is a center of any culture and history development [1].
The philosopher considers that a city stems from the landscape, though unique urban consciousness is formed earlier than the process of city formation is completed. Landscape plays a
pivotal role in the formation of human consciousness, as nature and the environment are the
first elements to be perceived and learned by a human. In this regard it is necessary to apply to
Spengler’s concept of nature according to which two types of nature can be distinguished. The
first is nature unknown, terrifying, which is associated with the image of the Ancient World and
considered to be a starting point of the becoming. The second is nature known, is associated
with the image of the Modern Age and considered to be the end result of the becoming that is
the being. The first type of the nature is a core of the artistic worldview (“idea” of a culture, according to Spengler); the second one is a core of the scientific worldview (“bone” of the culture).
The first is the myth, the second is the fact [1, p. 225]. Since Spengler believes that the history is
the becoming and nature is the being, the history is the myth. Thus, we have two types of world
perception such as “world-as-history” and “world-as-nature”. In other words, history is a kind of
creativity which is a sensory perception of the world in the process of its becoming; nature, in
its turn, is a kind of science presenting the systemic perception of the world as the being. “Systemic abstract mind, different from the sensory, is the latest, narrow and transient phenomenon
which is peculiar to the cultures being more developed. It is connected with the cities where the
life of culture is more and more condensed” [1, p. 259]. Thus, Spengler connects the formation of a city with the second type of nature, but this idea is not so precise, as we believe that the city
is formed on the basis of both types of nature. City formation background is predetermined by
the formation of human world perception, which is already city-oriented, and it happens when
the nature is perceived for the first time (the first type of nature, according to Spengler), then is
developed in terms of a “matured culture” (the second type of nature).
Ключові слова
city, landscape, space, urban consciousness, free spirit, art, literature.