Christopher Dawson on Spengler, Toynbee, Eliot and the notion of Culture

This paper is an approach to the context in which Dawson’s work originated as well as to the main critiques of the works by Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee and Thomas S. Eliot, with whom he differed on how to address the study of culture. The contrasts between Dawson and the views of these authors are significant and help to refine the concept of culture Dawson used in his philosophy. The paper highlights both Dawson’s perspective and what separates or brings him closer to these authors. Conclusions are drawn about the elements Dawson took from each one of them.