Oswald Spengler’s theory of nation in the context of discussions at the turn of XIX-XX centuries

Traditionally, the views of Oswald Spengler are considered from the position that he was one of the founders of the civilizational approach, while the theory of nation created by him has not been fully studied so far. At the same time, the originality of Spengler’s views can be understood only in the context of those discussions that took place in the scientific and socio-political spheres contemporary to him. This issue was most developed within the framework of social-democratic methodology, although there was no unanimity among the authors even here. Spengler tried to connect race, language, culture and nation in his constructions, but gave them his own original definitions, which had no analogues in the works of his contemporaries. As a result, he formulated the understanding of nation as a creation of culture, a reflection of race and language. Race was understood as a visible manifestation of culture, associated with a certain space, while language acted as a means of connecting the community in time. Unlike his contemporaries, he considered the nation to be a minority within the people, and this was not related to socio-economic formations. Later these theoretical constructions formed the basis of practical recommendations, which Spengler tried to give in his publicistic works.