Plutarchian:

writing in the manner of Plutarch(46-120 AD) , a Greek biographer & essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia; his writings had an enormous influence on English & French literature.  Shakespeare occasionally quoted him & paraphrased parts of translations; also influenced Emerson, Montaigne, Boswell, John Dryden, Alexander Hamilton, John Milton, Louis L'amour & Francis Bacon.

 

tableaux:

a picture, as of a scene; a picturesque grouping of persons or objects; a striking scene; a representation of a picture, statue, scene by one or more persons suitably costumed and posed.

 

phenomena:

the plural of phenomenon- a fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable: to study the phenomena of nature.

 

Classical Age:

reference to the long period of cultural history centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Greece & Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world; a period in which Greek and Roman society flourished and wielded great influence throughout Europe, N. Africa and SW Asia.  It begins with the earliest-recorded Epic Greek poetry of Homer (8th–7th century BC), continues through the emergence of Christianity & ending with the dissolution of classical culture at the close of Late Antiquity (300–600 AD).

 

Socialism:

a theory or system of social & economic organization, advocating the vesting of the ownership & control of the means of production and distribution, of capital & land , with the community as a whole (versus individuals); it substitutes markets and money with central planning & public ownership, on calculations based on in-kind value (rather than monetary value), producing a mechanism that functions on different economic laws from capitalism; aims to circumvent inefficiencies & crises associated with capital accumulation & profits, especially economic deprivation, wage slavery & monopoly.  Roots in mid-18th century (French Revolution); increasingly prominent in 19th & 20th centuries.

 

Impressionism:

a style of painting that developed in the last third of the 19th century;  in painting characterized chiefly by short brushstrokes of bright colours in immediate juxtaposition to represent the effect of light on objects; the forms, colours or tones of objects are lightly and rapidly indicated.  

 

Capitalism:

an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained by private individuals or corporations, as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.  Employs a market based mechanism to determine prices & wages.

 

Clericalism:

clerical power in government & politics (as distinguished from the lay); the church-based, leadership or opinion of ordained clergy in matters of either the church or broader political & socio-cultural matters

 

Jacobin Clubs:

(aka Jacobins) influential political club during the French Revolution; founded by anti-Royalist deputies from Brittany, it grew into a nationwide republican movement, with a membership of half a million or more; heterogeneous, included both prominent parliamentary factions of the early 1790s, the radical Mountain and the more moderate Girondins.

 

Cult of Brutus:

(aka The Cult of Reason) France's first established state sponsored atheistic religion (circa 1793), to replace Roman Catholicism during the French Revolution; named after both Lucius Junius Brutus who deposed the Tarquin kings of Rome (circa 500 BC) and Marcus Brutus who assassinated Caesar (44 BC); both mentioned in Plutarch and reflecting the prevailing Neoclassicism of the age.

 

Brutus:* see Endnote <A>

(85-42 BC)  politician of the late Roman Republic; a leader in the assassination of Caesar who led the Populares faction & worked to assume greater powers; he was opposed by the Optimate (the Roman elite, the Senate).  

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oligarchic:

form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.

 

"Man of the Democracy":

Spengler's reference to Julius Caesar, leader of the Populares faction, supported by the plebeians (the commoners), particularly the urban poor.  They were opposed by the Optimate, made up of the Roman elite, the Senate.  The Populares agenda included laws for:

• the provision of a grain dole for the poor, the price subsidised by the state;

• reforms for the poor, particularly redistributing land & debt relief;

• the extension of Roman citizenship to Rome's Italic allies.

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metaphysically:

pertaining to or of the nature of metaphysics; in Philosophy a concern with abstract thought or subjects, as existence, causality, or truth; concerned with first principles and ultimate grounds, as being, time, or substance; highly abstract, subtle, or abstruse

 

morphology of world history:

Spengler's new model for world history, based on an organic ( plant like) analogy;  higher mankind produces Cultures/Civilizations which are a type of organism, each unique but each following a common pattern over time; the proper study of history needs to focus on its form and structure (as against cause/effect), to ascertain historical Destiny; historical methodology based on cause/effect conflates a methodology appropriate for the study of nature (and space) and mistakenly applies it to a study of time.

 

world-as-nature:

Spengler posits this as a fundamental mode of perception, employing Causality & mathematics to explain & comprehend reality as presented by the senses, it is the domain of the logic of space.