I did not know that in 1818 a younger Arthur Schopenhauer, aged 30, made a trip to Florence, Italy, where he pursued love. Unfortunately for Arthur, it didn’t go well.
“After a number of rejections, he decided that ‘only the male intellect, clouded by the sexual impulse, could call the undersized, narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short-legged sex “the fair sex”.’ Undeterred, he returned a year later to find his success rate greatly improved, to the extent that he became engaged ‘to a lady of noble family’, but he broke it off when he learned that she had tuberculosis.”[1]
How much of Schopenhauer’s pessimism resulted from his particular negative experience with the Florentine ladies and how much from his general metaphysical reflections? And how much did his metaphysics contribute to his lack of romantic luck? Consider these lines from The World as Will and Representation, also a product of the year 1818:
Reality is a “world of constantly needy creatures who continue for a time merely by devouring one another, pass their existence in anxiety and want, and often endure terrible affliction, until they fall at last into the arms of death.” And more: “we have not to be pleased but rather sorry about the existence of the world, that its non-existence would be preferable to its existence.” As for mankind: “nothing else can be stated as the aim of our existence except the knowledge that it would be better for us not to exist.”[2]
Wouldn’t that make the Florentinas swoon.
Sources: [1] Ted Jones, Florence and Tuscany: A Literary Guide for Travellers (I.B. Tauris, 2013), p. 68. [2] Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation (Dover, 1969 [1818]), pp. 349, 576, 605.
Related: Schopenhauer’s sense of humor. My discussion of Schopenhauer’s significance in nineteenth-century philosophy is in “Epistemological solutions to Kant: Irrationalism from Kierkegaard to Nietzsche,” in Chapter 2 of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault.
That is a fair point. “Romantic pessimism” seems in some ways inaccurate, or insufficient. He is romantic about pessimism, he is pessimistic about romance, his entire rehearsal of this blind striving is highly entertaining and fantastically poetic and even finds points of reference. But William James expressed it well enough – he will have all the dapper fellows with a taste for good literature as his audience. It’s just a big woo, and his life’s commitment demonstrates that philosophy is no match for fashion.
Ah me! Alas! Etc.
Fascinating remarks Philip.
But I’ll always be grateful to Schopie for his blistering send up of Hegel (combination of two quotes)
“The height of audacity in serving up pure nonsense, in stringing together senseless and extravagant mazes of words, such as had been only previously known in madhouses, was finally reached in Hegel, and became the instrument of the most barefaced, general mystification that has ever taken place, with a result which will appear fabulous to posterity, as a monument to German stupidity… a pseudo-philosophy paralyzing all mental powers, stifling all real thinking, and, by the most outrageous misuse of language, putting in its place the hollowest, most senseless, thoughtless, and, as is confirmed by its success, most stupefying verbiage…”
Among other signal accomplishments Schopenhauer did much to elevate curmudgeonliness into a philosophical system.
I liked Wagner’s reaction on reading Schopenhauer. He took him to mean that ‘true knowledge’ could be discovered only through sex or music. Wagner thought to himself “I’m the man!” and proceeded to write the Leibestod to ‘Tristan and Isolde’ celebrating both …
Interesting Peter. Most German thinkers of the period were unclear on the difference between knowledge and experience. While granted, certain anal personalities can become wrapped up in the former while ignoring the latter – their emotional life and needs – it doesn’t follow that in a healthy person they are inimical to each other.
Life and man are big. So many philosophies are obsessively narrow paths that illegitimately dichotomize everything that doesn’t fit on them out of them. Thought and feeling are two aspects of the human psyche: in a healthy person harmonious and well integrated aspects. There should no more be a conflict between mind and emotion than between lungs and literal heart.
Also, feelings can SOMEtimes be a clue to something our subconscious mind has figured out but our conscious hasn’t. But at that stage it isn’t knowledge. I’ve had hunches that were dead on, others wildly off the mark.
One morning when I drove taxi I was going west on a downtown street with a passenger heading to the business district. Came to a north-south street with the intention of making the turn south. There’s an advance left green-arrow there.
I jockeyed into the left turn lane on the red. My view on the right was obstructed by a line of traffic including several cube vans. The light changed to the advance green. But for some reason unbeknownst to me, instead of gunning it through and making my turn I crawled forward at 5 kph. I couldn’t have said why.
Suddenly a southbound car hurtled full tilt through the intersection on the red.
Had I done the apparently “rational” thing and made my turn as I had every right too it would have been a really bad smash up – almost certainly total write-off of the car, likely severe injuries and perhaps worse.
But there was nothing “psychic” or supernatural about my premonition. I have lots of driving experience. My subconscious mind had undoubtedly picked up evidence – perhaps an anomalous sound or increase in air pressure – that had not reached my conscious mind.
My fare gave me a huge tip and thanked me for saving his life. Had I not learned to trust that side of myself I might not be here now.
But this has to be separated from someone like Hitler who was notorious for thinking “with his blood.”
Someone put it well: if it appears to press on you, give your heart a hearing. That’s not the same as rejecting one’s mind and blindly following it.
Reason is the authoritative element of the human psyche, but not the only element of it.
I think I’m finished now.
I think the true story about Schopenhauer’s engagement, was not that his fiancee had tuberculosis, but an artificial wooden leg — so, he broke it off.
Really, Mr. Dahl. (Tee hee!).