Man and Technics: A Contribution to a Philosophy of Life ebook

'Man and Technics' was written as a kind of precis to Spengler's magnum opus 'Decline of the West', and as such makes one want to read the latter. In this short book, Spengler claims that the technical side of man's existence only became a 'problem' in the 19th century, and two answers to the 'problem' were then given.

The first was simply to ignore it, to see it beneath one, not a part of higher culture. The second and opposite was the materialist approach (which Spengler regards as mainly English in origin), characterised by "a devastating shallowness...even today, when we are still living out the last phases of this trivial optimism, these imbecilities make one shudder, thinking of the appalling boredom that spreads over the soul in the mere reading of such idylls, of which even a partial actualization in real life could only lead to wholesale murder and suicide."

But while those who believe in 'progress' are generally materialists (Spengler derides them as half-educated), the great discoverers and inventors (whom 'progress' depends on) have rarely been materialists themselves - an observation also made by Deepak Chopra. Spengler thought the materialist approach AND the 'ignore technics and bury your head in the sand' approach were both obsolete in the 20th century...but here we are in the 21st, and the materialist/'progressive' worldview is still very much the mainstream norm, while the 'head in the sand' approach is also quite common, especially in the arts scene.

For Spengler, technics must be understood not in terms of the implements used, but of what one DOES with them (i.e. it must be understood with the soul).

Human technics isn't the same as 'technology' - the latter is also found in ants (agriculture, road building etc.). Unlike ants, humans are capable of invention and development. Human technics is something independent of the compulsion of the species. "Man has become the creator of his tactics of living - that is his grandeur and his doom" (his tragedy, too, because he is still ultimately dependent on nature).

Spengler traces the development (as he sees it) of technics via the eye, hand and tool. Then comes the step "from organic to organised existence", that is, the rise of 'enterprise' (collective doing by plan). But with the coming of rationalism, "the belief in technics almost becomes a materialistic religion. And its worshipper is the progress-philistine of the modern age."

But the machine is now revolting against its creator (Nordic Man), just as man himself once revolted against Nature. "All things organic are dying in the grip of organization. The Civilization itself has become a machine..."

European (or 'Faustian') culture is characterised by "a spiritual reaching out into boundless space". It is the most powerful the world has known, but also the most tragic..."tragic on a scale "greater than anything Æschylus or Shakespeare ever imagined." This is because of "the inward conflict between its comprehensive intellectuality and its profound spiritual disharmony."

The Faustian culture which invented most of our current technics no longer has an interest in controlling them - it freely shares them with other races. The rise of an Asian technocratic elite bears Spengler out in this. What for Faustians was a spiritual necessity, for the coloured races is merely "a weapon in their fight against the Faustian civilization," thinks Spengler, a weapon to be discarded as soon as they have finished the job.

So for Spengler, technics itself is drawing to an end. But "the honourable end is the one thing that cannot be taken from a man."

This kind of heroic pessimism will be hard to stomach for many. An alternative could be along the lines Miguel Serrano advocated in 'The Hermetic Circle', namely that Europeans should now turn their gaze inward rather than outward...but of course that won't satisfy those who demand a political solution.

'Man and Technics' was written as a kind of precis to Spengler's magnum opus 'Decline of the West', and as such makes one want to read the latter. In this short book, Spengler claims that the technical side of man's existence only became a 'problem' in the 19th century, and two answers to the 'problem' were then given.

The first was simply to ignore it, to see it beneath one, not a part of higher culture. The second and opposite was the materialist approach (which Spengler regards as mainly English in origin), characterised by "a devastating shallowness...even today, when we are still living out the last phases of this trivial optimism, these imbecilities make one shudder, thinking of the appalling boredom that spreads over the soul in the mere reading of such idylls, of which even a partial actualization in real life could only lead to wholesale murder and suicide."

But while those who believe in 'progress' are generally materialists (Spengler derides them as half-educated), the great discoverers and inventors (whom 'progress' depends on) have rarely been materialists themselves - an observation also made by Deepak Chopra. Spengler thought the materialist approach AND the 'ignore technics and bury your head in the sand' approach were both obsolete in the 20th century...but here we are in the 21st, and the materialist/'progressive' worldview is still very much the mainstream norm, while the 'head in the sand' approach is also quite common, especially in the arts scene.

For Spengler, technics must be understood not in terms of the implements used, but of what one DOES with them (i.e. it must be understood with the soul).

Human technics isn't the same as 'technology' - the latter is also found in ants (agriculture, road building etc.). Unlike ants, humans are capable of invention and development. Human technics is something independent of the compulsion of the species. "Man has become the creator of his tactics of living - that is his grandeur and his doom" (his tragedy, too, because he is still ultimately dependent on nature).

Spengler traces the development (as he sees it) of technics via the eye, hand and tool. Then comes the step "from organic to organised existence", that is, the rise of 'enterprise' (collective doing by plan). But with the coming of rationalism, "the belief in technics almost becomes a materialistic religion. And its worshipper is the progress-philistine of the modern age."

But the machine is now revolting against its creator (Nordic Man), just as man himself once revolted against Nature. "All things organic are dying in the grip of organization. The Civilization itself has become a machine..."

European (or 'Faustian') culture is characterised by "a spiritual reaching out into boundless space". It is the most powerful the world has known, but also the most tragic..."tragic on a scale "greater than anything Æschylus or Shakespeare ever imagined." This is because of "the inward conflict between its comprehensive intellectuality and its profound spiritual disharmony."

The Faustian culture which invented most of our current technics no longer has an interest in controlling them - it freely shares them with other races. The rise of an Asian technocratic elite bears Spengler out in this. What for Faustians was a spiritual necessity, for the coloured races is merely "a weapon in their fight against the Faustian civilization," thinks Spengler, a weapon to be discarded as soon as they have finished the job.

So for Spengler, technics itself is drawing to an end. But "the honourable end is the one thing that cannot be taken from a man."

This kind of heroic pessimism will be hard to stomach for many. An alternative could be along the lines Miguel Serrano advocated in 'The Hermetic Circle', namely that Europeans should now turn their gaze inward rather than outward...but of course that won't satisfy those who demand a political solution.