Night over Europe. The Twentieth-Century Crisis and the Crisis of Civilisation

Chiara Cappiello; Antonio Catalano

doi:10.6093/978-88-6887-391-2

Night over Europe. The Twentieth-Century Crisis and the Crisis of Civilisation

Authors

Chiara Cappiello

University of Naples Federico II

https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6440-004X

Antonio Catalano

Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7662-9659

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/978-88-6887-391-2

Keywords:

Crisis, 20th Century, Europe, Decline, Dawn

Synopsis

Publisher: FedOA - Federico II University Press

Series: European Philosophical Studies

Pages: 226

Language: Italian

Abstract: This book examines the crisis that afflicted the West between the two world wars, considering it to be political, historical, cultural and, above all, spiritual. Europe, which had claimed to embody universal rationality and progress, was revealed to be fragile and riven with destructive, barbaric impulses, which led to a process of decline and regression. It is hardly surprising that the international debate has centred on Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West: a book that has attracted both approval and rejection and has become a mirror through which thinkers, writers and philosophers have grasped the radical nature of the crisis. Drawing on the analyses of some of the greatest observers of the 20th century, the essays collected in this volume do not seek to provide a definitive answer to questions about the “night” that has fallen over Europe. Instead, they aim to convey the diversity of perspectives and the complexity of the situation. The result is a critical mapping of unresolved and highly topical issues. Neither consolatory nor reassuring, it records the twilight whilst simultaneously searching for signs of a possible new beginning.

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Author Biographies

Chiara Cappiello, University of Naples Federico II

Chiara Cappiello is Assistant Professor in History of Philosophy at the University of Naples Federico II. Her scientific interest lies in the history of culture in the twentieth century between Italy and Germany, with a focus on the theme of crisis.

Antonio Catalano, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan

Antonio Catalano is a research fellow at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan. His research focuses on early 20th-century Anglo-American philosophy and the reception of Benedetto Croce in Britain.