Considerations are Mann 's diary during World War II. For the first time , the writer engages in ideological debate , highlighting the values ​​that he believed threatened. Defend here "a certain idea of ​​Germany ' virtuous critical topics of Allied propaganda , champions of democracy , and says there is an irreducible opposition between culture and " civilization " of its opponents. Culture is concerned with the soul , is typical of a country and speaks to the individual . Civilization , concerned about the technical and material progress, is international and is only interested in the masses. It leads directly to the realm of the mound .

This pamphlet undemocratic sometimes becomes very questionable defense of German nationalism , but also contains a eulogy of irony and stunning pages philosophers like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, Wagner and Bizet as musicians , writers like Tolstoy , Dostoyevsky , Flaubert , etc. . In short, a book that discussion and criticism , capital paper on a crisis of civilization is provided.