By D.L. McNaughton
ABSTRACT
This article examines Oswald Spengler’s claim that similarities may be discerned in the style of mathematics,
art and music developed by a particular High Culture – looking first at his discussions of the Ancient Greeks
and how their thought-processes differed from that of Western Europeans, as well as from the Persians and
Arabs. An attempt is then made to extend Spengler’s theory to the Ancient Egyptians (referring to their
Rhind Papyrus) and to the Sino-Japanese (by appealing to their ‘Sangaku’ mathematical art-forms). Finally, it
is suggested that we may already be able to identify certain distinctive features and characteristics of the recently
born Russian Culture.