Editing Oswald Spengler (section)

=== Influences ===
In the introduction to ''The Decline of the West'', Spengler cites [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Johann W. von Goethe]] and [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] as his major influences. Goethe's vitalism and Nietzsche's cultural criticism, in particular, are highlighted in his works.{{Sfn|Engels|2019|p=7}}

{{blockquote|I feel urged to name once more those to whom I owe practically everything: Goethe and Nietzsche. Goethe gave me method, Nietzsche the questioning faculty…<ref>Spengler, Oswald. [https://archive.org/stream/Decline-Of-The-West-Oswald-Spengler/Decline_Of_The_West#page/n12/mode/1up ''The Decline of the West'']. V. 1, Alfred A. Knopf, 1926, p. xiv.</ref>}} Spengler was also influenced by the universal and cyclical vision of [[World history (field)|world history]] proposed by the German historian [[Eduard Meyer]].{{Sfn|Engels|2019|p=7}} The belief in the progression of civilizations through an evolutionary process comparable with living beings can be traced back to classical antiquity, although it is difficult to assess the extent of the influence those thinkers had on Spengler: [[Cato the Elder]], [[Cicero]], [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], [[Florus]], [[Ammianus Marcellinus]], and later, [[Francis Bacon]], who compared different empires with each other with the help of biological analogies.{{Sfn|Engels|2019|pp=7–8}}