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ABSTRACT (1) IN a preface to “Civilisation or Civilisations,” Dr. F. C. S. Schiller, with a characteristic and mildly cynical humour, discusses the reasons for teaching history and briefly
expounds the philosophy of that subject as an attempt to formulate a ‘law.’ The book itself is intended to familiarise English readers with the ideas of Spengler's book, “Der Untergang
des Abendlandes,” in which the belief in progress was challenged. Holding that civilisation does not show any steady arithmetical progression, Spengler propounds a ‘law of civilisations’ to
account for their rise and fall. Human achievements are divided into nine groups or eras, each constituting a distinct civilisation capable of high achievement in art, in science, in
thought, in religion, and in social organisation. Each of these passes through a course of progress covering about 1400 years, after which the society ceases to be artistic, social, or
scientific in any but the crudest sense. Western civilisation, beginning about A.D. 900, is expected to come to an end about A.D. 2300. It will be seen that this theory of history involves a
return to the schematisation of progress, and indeed the authors will have nothing to do with the archaeologist who traces cultural phenomena back to their origins or with the diffusionist
and his migrations of culture from an original centre in Egypt. Either school may perhaps be content to await the verdict of the facts-when we know them. (1) Civilisation or Civilisations:
an Essay in the Spenglerian Philosophy of History. By E. H. Goddard P. A. Gibbons. Pp. xvi + 231 (London: Constable and C., Ltd., 1926.) 7_s_. 6_d_. net. (2) Sunrise in the West: a Modern
Interpretation of Past and Present. By Adrian Stokes. Pp. xvi + 168. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., n.d.) 7_s_. 6_d_. net. ARTICLE PDF RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions
ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE (1) _Civilisation or Civilisations: an Essay in the Spenglerian Philosophy of History_ (2) _Sunrise in the West: a Modern Interpretation of Past and
Present_. _Nature_ 120, 42 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/120042a0 Download citation * Issue Date: 09 July 1927 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/120042a0 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share
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