question about a use of "wie"

[edmont]

I'm not clear about how the highlighted "wie" above is functioning and what it means in the sentence.

Wir  sehen,  wie  auf  der  einen  Seite  eine  wie  in  den  Niedergang hineintreibende  Weltanschauung  lebt,  wie  auf  der  anderen  Seite  eine gewisse Welten-Menschheitsströmung  nicht hat  dazu  kommen  können, im  entscheidenden  Augenblick  diejenigen  Impulse,  diejenigen  sozialen Impulse zu finden, welche zu einer Neugestaltung führen können.


Is it something like the following?


We see how on the one hand a worldview lives as a force that drives things into decline ...

Thank you for any assistance.

[tiorthan]

This sentence is difficult to parse and even more difficult to translate. 

The "eine wie in den Niedergang hineintreibende Weltanschauung" is a single noun phrase that is the subject to "lebt". The "wie in den Niedergang hineintreibende" acts as an adjective modifying "Weltanschauung". That gives something like this:

We se how on the one hand a like-drifting-into-decline worldview is alive, how on the other hand ...

Although "decline" is maybe a bit too soft, the tone of the sentence suggest something more swift or dramatic like the downfall of civilization or suchlike.

That German sentence was hard to parse even for me, but alas it's typical for the style of the early to mid 20th century.

[edmont]

Tiorthan, thank you very much for the detailed parsing, which I find extremely helpful.
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So the "wie" on which I focused slightly de-literalizes the statement.  The speaker is saying that

"on the one hand, there lives a worldview that is as if drifting into decline" OR

"on the one hand, there lives a worldview like something drifting into decline."

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You translated hineintreibende as "drifting into" -- should it or could it not be something more forceful, like "driving into" ? 

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And is there perhaps an implied, unstated, object -- "things in general," "the world" -- an object that the worldview is driving toward collapse, so the meaning would be

"On the one hand, there lives a worldview that is (as if) driving [the world, things in general] toward downfall." ?

Thanks again.

[tiorthan]

So the "wie" on which I focused slightly de-literalizes the statement.  The speaker is saying that

"on the one hand, there lives a worldview that is as if drifting into decline" OR

"on the one hand, there lives a worldview like something drifting into decline."

Yes, both would work.

You translated hineintreibende as "drifting into" -- should it or could it not be something more forceful, like "driving into"

Treiben can mean either to drive like in a cattle drive or like driving a nail or it can mean something like drift (like a boat). Which it is depends on the perspective of the action. When it means to drive you have to have some indication of treiben being done actively. So either the sentence indicates that something is driven, or it has to be used in a context that makes it clear. Otherwise you always get drift.
 

And is there perhaps an implied, unstated, object -- "things in general," "the world" -- an object that the worldview is driving toward collapse, so the meaning would be

"On the one hand, there lives a worldview that is (as if) driving [the world, things in general] toward downfall." ?

Thanks again.

There is an implied object but when people talk about "Niedergang" (especially at a time of widspred nationalism) it's usually their own culture and society that they see as going down the drain.

[edmont]

tiorthan, thank you for the detailed responses. 

So as I understand you, with treiben, "drift" is more the default meaning than "drive." If context is not clear, one should assume something like drift or float.

[tiorthan]

It's the default when it is used like "etwas treibt" in which case it usually means "something drifts" or "something is adrift".

Incidentally, treiben, drive and drift all derive from the same Germanic root drifan.

[edmont]

tiorthan, thanks!