Alexandre Deulofeu

Alexandre Deulofeu Torres

Alexandre Deulofeu Torres (born September 20, 1903 in L'Armentera , † December 27, 1978 in Figueres ) was a Spanish politician and philosopher of history. He wrote about what he called the mathematics of history , a cyclical theory about the development of civilizations.

biography

Deulofeu was born in the Catalan province of Girona , Catalonia ( Spain ), where his father worked as a pharmacist. His family moved to Sant Pere Pescador when he was three years old , and when he was nine the family moved to Figueres . Alexandre Deulofeu graduated from high school Ramon Muntaner and in Barcelona , afterwards he studied pharmacy and chemistry in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​he completed his chemistry studies in Barcelona. After returning to Figueres, he successfully applied for a chair at the Figueres Institute and began teaching. An intense phase of political activity begins here, first as the head of the Juventut Nacionalista Republicana (Nationalist Republican Youth) of Empordà , then as a municipal MP for the ERC (Republican Left Catalonia) party. Circumstances resulted in him becoming mayor of Figueres during the civil war from 1936 to 1939, where he knew how to prevent fighting, looting and persecution. He later worked as a medic at the front.

Deulofeu went into exile in France on February 5, 1939 as part of the withdrawal of the republican army . In exile, he has various activities and professions: school teacher in various subjects, violinist and saxophonist in various groups and bands of light music and classical music. As an experimental farmer, he creates soil-free plantations on the basis of liquid solutions that he invents, and he also works as a factory worker, bricklayer, writer, poet and much more.

He becomes friends with Francesc Pujols and Salvador Dalí . After his return from exile on January 22, 1947, he devoted himself to pharmacy, continuing his research and writing.

He died in Figueres in 1978 , and his major work entitled The Mathematics of History remained unfinished.

Worldview

Alexandre Deulofeu believed that civilizations and empires go through a series of cycles that correspond to the natural cycles of living things. Every civilization can go through and complete at least three cycles, each of these cycles lasting at least 1700 years. Embedded in their civilizations, the empires have an average lifespan of 550 years. Deulofeu argued that knowing the nature of these cycles can prevent unnecessary wars because the processes can be peaceful rather than violent. He was also of the opinion that humanity would be able to recognize these processes and intervene in the cycles themselves, and this should be done through an organization, a universal federation of free peoples.

The presentation of the mathematical law, which, according to Deulofeu, determines the evolutionary process of peoples, can be summarized in the following points (Chapter III of the Mathematics of History , published in 1967 ):

1. All peoples go through epochs of great demographic fragmentation, which are alternated by epochs of great unification or imperialist epochs.
2. The epochs of great demographic fragmentation last for six and a half centuries. Epochs of great standardization lasted ten and a half centuries. The evolutionary cycle therefore spans 17 centuries.
3. During this process of development, the races go through perfectly defined phases in order to assume the same position at the end of the cycle as at the beginning.
4. The evolutionary cycle includes all areas of human activity, i. H. alongside the political cycle, we should also consider a social, artistic, philosophical, scientific, etc. cycle.
5. All peoples follow the same evolution, but this has a lead or a lag depending on the geographic location of each country.
6. The creative power is not the same for all peoples. There is an area of ​​maximum creative intensity for each cycle, and this area shifts from one cycle to the next in the same direction as the general process is moving. In Europe , this process moves from the east towards the western Mediterranean and then migrates from the Iberian Peninsula to Gaul , continues on a path across the British Isles , continues through the Germanic peoples and finally reaches the Nordic and Slavic peoples.
7. The imperialist core areas, which open the way to epochs of great political unification, follow perfect biological processes, they are identical to one another and have a lifespan of 5 to 6 centuries.
8. The transformation of the political-social regime does not take place in a constant line movement with upward or downward movements, but by means of alternating forward and backward movements of different intensity, which gives the process a broken line. The result of this alignment is equivalent to an advance in a certain sense, which is called the law of two steps forward - one backward .

Deulofeu's world of thought is related to the ideas of Oswald Spengler and Arnold J. Toynbee , who also set out theories about the cyclical nature of civilizations, but without achieving the mathematical accuracy of measurement that Deulofeu achieved.

During his exile and in the years after, Deulofeu visited various museums, temples and historical buildings in numerous countries, where he drew the conclusion, among other things, that Romanesque art originated between the Empordà and the Rosselló during the 9th century . It was the origin of what Deulofeu calls the second cycle of Western European civilization after the first cycle has ended.

Works

• Catalunya i l'Europa futura ( Catalonia and the future Europe ), Barcelona , Llibreria Catalònia, 1934 (preface by Antoni Rovira i Virgili . Facsimile edition 1978 ).
• Catalunya 1932-1934 ( Catalonia 1932-1934 ), Barcelona , Llibreria Catalònia, 1935 .
• Química estructural, primera part ( structural chemistry, first part ), Figueres , Edicions de l'Escola del Treball, 1937 .
• L'evolució social ( The social evolution ), Figueres , Edicions de l'Escola del Treball, 1937 (there is a second, unpublished volume).
• Alejandro Deulofeu. La energía atómica al servicio de la química ( Atomic energy in the service of chemistry ), and La energía atómica y la energía iónica ( Atomic energy and ion energy ), Breviata Médica (servicio de información médico de los laboratorios Leti y Uquita), Barcelona , 1949 .
• Alejandro Deulofeu. La Matemática de la Historia ( The Mathematics of History ), Barcelona , Aymà edicions, 1951 .
• Alejandro Deulofeu. La energía atómica al servicio de la química ( Atomic energy in the service of chemistry ), Barcelona , Editorial Emporitana, 1952 .
• Alejandro Deulofeu. Europa al desnudo ( Europe without a shell ), Barcelona , Editorial Emporitana, 1954 .
• Alejandro Deulofeu. Nacimiento, grandeza y muerte de las civilizaciones ( Origin, Size and Decline of Civilizations ), Barcelona , Casa del Libro, 1956 (Volume 1 in Spanish of The Mathematics of History ).
• La matemàtica de la història en la cultura occidental ( The Mathematics of History in Western Culture ), Els Autors de l'Ocell de Paper , Barcelona , Editex, 1957 .
• Alejandro Deulofeu. Los grandes errors de la Historia. Del servilismo a la democracia ( The great errors of history. From servilism to democracy ), Barcelona , Aymà edicions, 1958 (Volume 2 in Spanish of The Mathematics of History ).
• L'Empordà, bressol de l'art romànic ( Empordà, cradle of Romanesque art ), Barcelona , Gráficas Diamant, 1961 .
• Alejandro Deulofeu. El Ampurdán, cuna del arte románico , ( Empordà, cradle of Romanesque art ), Barcelona , Grafiques diamond, 1962 .
• Catalunya, origen de la pintura medieval ( Catalonia, origin of medieval painting ), Barcelona , Ed. Selecta, 1963 .
• Alejandro Deulofeu. Cataluña, origen de la pintura medieval , ( Catalonia, origin of medieval painting ) Barcelona , Ed. Selecta, 1963 .
• La Matemàtica de la Història ( The Mathematics of History ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1967 .
• Preface in the book by Carles Fages de Climent Vilasacra, capital del món ( Vilasacra, capital of the world ), Figueres , Ed. Pérgamo, 1st edition 1967 , 2nd edition 1977 , 3rd edition 1993 .
• L'Empordà-Rosselló, bressol de l'escultura romànica ( Empordà-Roselló, cradle of Romanesque sculpture ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1968 (photographs by Joaquim Fort de Ribot ).
• Les cultures europees. De la primera onada històrica de gran fragmentació demogràfica ( The European cultures. From the first historical wave to the great demographic fragmentation ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1969 (Volume 3 in Catalan of The Mathematics of History ).
• La pau al món per la Matemàtica de la Història ( Peace in the World through the Mathematics of History ), Barcelona , Ed. Pòrtic, 1970 .
• Naixença, grandesa i mort de les civilitzacions ( Origin, Size and Decline of Civilizations ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1970 (Volume 1 in Catalan of The Mathematics of History ).
• El monestir de Sant Pere de Roda. Importància, història i art ( The Monastery of Sant Pere de Roda. Its Significance, History and Art ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1970 .
• The monastery of San Pedro de Roda: its meaning, history and art , 1970 - 32, 8 S. Language: German .
• Els grans errors de la Història ( The great errors of history ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1971 (Volume 2 in Catalan of The Mathematics of History ).
• Lluita d'imperis, primera part (persa, macedoni, cartaginès, romà, bizantí) ( War of the Empires, first part (Persian Empire, Macedonia, Carthaginian, Roman Empire, Byzantium) ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1972 (Volume 4 on Catalan from The Mathematics of History ).
• L'Empordà, bressol de l'art romànic ( Empordà, cradle of Romanesque art ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1972 .
• Alejandro Deulofeu. La paz mundial por la Matemática de la Historia ( Peace in the world through the mathematics of history ), Barcelona , ed.Pòrtic Hispànic, 1973 .
• Lluita d'imperis, segona part (teutònic, anglosaxó, polonès, danès, noruec, víking, lituà, suec, moscovita) ( War of the Empires, second part (Teutons, Anglo-Saxons, Poles, Danes, Norwegians, Vikings, Lithuanians, Swedes, Muscovites) ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1973 (Volume 5 in Catalan of The Mathematics of History ).
• El segon cicle europeu. El procés polític i social ( The second European cycle. The political and social process ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1974 (Volume 6 in Catalan of The Mathematics of History ).
• Memòries de la revolució, de la guerra i de l'exili ( Memories of the Revolution, War and Exile ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1975 , 2 volumes.
• Preface to the book by Sebastià Delclòs , Guia del romànic de l'Alt Empordà ( Guide to the Romanesque Alt Empordà ), Figueres , Center Excursionista Empordanès, 1975 .
• Catalunya, mare de la cultura europea ( Catalonia, mother of European culture ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1977 (Volume 7 in Catalan from The Mathematics of History ).
• La segona onada imperial a Europa ( The Second Imperial Wave in Europe ), Figueres , Editorial Emporitana, 1977 (Volume 8 in Catalan from The Mathematics of History ).
• Alejandro Deulofeu. Nacimiento, grandeza y muerte de las civilizaciones ( Origin, Size and Decline of Civilizations ), Buenos Aires , Ed. Plus Ultra, 1978 (special edition for South America , foreword by Abelardo F. Gabancho ).
• Les cultures irano-sumèria-caldea, hitita i egípcia ( The Iranian-Sumerian cultures, Hittites and Egypt ). Figueres , Amics de l'Albera i Cap de Creus, Center Excursionista Empordanès, posthumous edition 2005 (Volume 9 in Catalan of The Mathematics of History ).
• Història de l'art universal ( history of universal art ). Figueres , realization: Amics de l'Albera i Cap de Creus, Center Excursionista Empordanès, posthumous edition, October 2008 .
• Articles i altres escrits. Els darrers mots ( Articles and other writings. The last words ). Figueres , realization: Amics de l'Albera i Cap de Creus, Center Excursionista Empordanès, design and supervision: July Gutiérrez Deulofeu, posthumous edition, June 2012 .

literature

• Alexandre Deulofeu . Figueres , Ajuntament de Figueres, Institut d'Estudis Empordanesos, Patronage Francesc Eiximenis, 2003 .
• July Gutiérrez Deulofeu. Alexandre Deulofeu, la Matemàtica de la Història ( Alexandre Deulofeu, The Mathematics of History ), Barcelona , Llibres de l'índex / Neopàtria, 2004 .
• Enric Pujol, Jordi Casassas, Francesc Roca, Juli Gutiérrez Deulofeu. La Matemàtica de la Història. La teoría cíclica d'Alexandre Deulofeu ( The mathematics of history. The cyclical theory of Alexandre Deulofeu ), Figueres , Brau Edicions, 2005 .

Web links

• Alexandre Deulofeu web