The course of world history

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The course of world history (original: A Study of History ) is the main work of the English universal historian Arnold J. Toynbee .

Toynbee analyzes the conditions of the formation, rise and decline of cultures ( civilizations ). In doing so, he gives an influential definition of the concept of high culture and carries out a comparative analysis. Unlike Oswald Spengler in The Downfall of the West , Toynbee does not represent a deterministic, but an evolutionary, in principle open-ended view.

A Study of History is one of the most influential works of history from the first half of the 20th century and also influenced sociology . It appeared in twelve volumes from 1934 to 1961 and established Toynbee's reputation as one of the last great universal historians in the tradition of Jacob Burckhardt and Spengler.

Factory editions

  • A Study of History , Vol. I-X, London 1934-1954; Supplementary volumes XI - XII, ibid 1959/61
    • Vol. I: Introduction: The Geneses of Civilizations , part one ( Oxford University Press , 1934)
    • Vol. II: The Geneses of Civilizations , part two (Oxford University Press, 1934)
    • Vol. III: The Growths of Civilizations (Oxford University Press, 1934)
    • Vol. IV: The Breakdowns of Civilizations (Oxford University Press, 1939)
    • Vol. V: The Disintegrations of Civilizations , part one (Oxford University Press, 1939)
    • Vol. VI: The Disintegrations of Civilizations , part two (Oxford University Press, 1939)
    • Vol. VII: Universal States; Universal Churches (Oxford University Press, 1954) [two volumes in paperback]
    • Vol. VIII: Heroic Ages; Contacts between Civilizations in Space (Encounters between Contemporaries) (Oxford University Press, 1954)
    • Vol. IX: Contacts between Civilizations in Time (Renaissances); Law and Freedom in History; The Prospects of the Western Civilization (Oxford University Press, 1954)
    • Vol. X: The Inspirations of Historians; A Note on Chronology (Oxford University Press, 1954)
    • Vol. XI: Historical Atlas and Gazetteer (Oxford University Press, 1959)
    • Vol. XII: Reconsiderations (Oxford University Press, 1961)
  • One -volume editions of Volumes I - VI and VII - X, abridged by DC Somervell and authorized by Toynbee (published in 1946 and 1957 by Oxford University Press, London)
  • Der Gang der Weltgeschichte , 2 volumes, Zurich 1949 and 1958 (German version of the Somervell edition published by Europa Verlag, translated by Jürgen von Kempski )

literature

  • José Ortega y Gasset : An Interpretation of World History. Around Toynbee. Translated from the Spanish by Wolfgang Halm . Gotthold Müller Verlag, Munich 1964. Original title Una interpretación de la Historia Universal.