WILLING AND UNWILLING NIJHOFF INTERNATIONAL PHILOSOPHY SERIES VOLUME 33 General Editor: JAN T.J. SRZEDNICKI (Contributions to Philosophy) Editor: LYNNE M. BROUGHTON (Applying Philosophy) Editor: STANISLAW J. SURMA (Logic and Applying Logic) Editorial Advisory Board: R.M. Chisholm, Brown University, Rhode Island. Mats Furberg, Goteborg University, D.A.T. Gasking, University of Melbourne, H.L.A. Hart, University College, Oxford. S. Korner, University of Bristol and Yale University. H.J. McCloskey, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Melbourne. J. Passmore, Australian National University, Canberra.A. Quinton, TrinityCollege, Oxford. Nathan Rotenstreich, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Franco Spisani, Centro Superiore di Logica e, Scienze Comparate, Bologna. S.J. Surma, Auckland University, New Zealand. R. Ziedins, Waikato University, New Zealand. For a list of volumes in this series see final page of the volume. Julian Young Willing and Unwilling: A Study in the Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V. • Distributors Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Young, Julian. Willing and unwilling. (Nijhoff international philosophy series ; 33) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Schopenhauer, Arthur, 1788-1860. 2. Will--History- 19th century. I. Title. II. Series: Nijhoff inter national philosophy series ; v. 33. B3148.Y68 1987 193 87-12399 ISBN 978-90-481-8303-6 ISBN 978-94-015-7756-4 (eBook) DOl 10.1007/978-94-015-7756-4 Copyright ©1987bySpringerScience+BusinessMediaDordrecht OriginallypublishedbyMartinusNijhoffPublishers,Dordrechtin 1987. Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition1987 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers, To Percy and Renee Foreword The Anglo-Saxon reception of Schopenhauer has a long and valuable tradition. An early reaction to Schopenhauer's thought from outside the German-speaking world was the appearance in the Westminster Review for 1853of "Iconoclasm in German Philosophy", an insightful essayof apprecia tion written by John Oxenford.Agratified Schopenhauerwas able to remark: "my philosophy has just set foot in England" (To Lindner, 27.4.1853). It remained there and spread throughout the English-speaking countries. In the following decades Schopenhauer's works were translated into English: carrying on the task of translation begun in the nineteenth century there stands out, particularly, the masterly achievementof EricF.Payne. No less active, however, has been the philosophical discussion devoted to Schopen hauerin books and journal-articles. In 1890Wallace published the first biog raphy of Schopenhauer in English, and the monographs by Caldwell (1894) and Coppleston (1946)are cornerstones of a continuous, if not widespread, concern with Schopenhauer's philosophy in the English language. An in creased interest in Schopenhauer in the Anglo-Saxon countries has mani fested itself in the last twenty-five years (Gardener (1963),Hamlyn (1980), Fox (ed.) (1980),Magee (1983)inter alia). The present study carrieson this tradition.Its distinctiveness consists in its explicit connecting of Schopenhauer's work to the philosophy ofKant. The author's intimate knowledge of both thinkers has already been estab lished in previous studies. The present work offers a systematic, critical discussion of Schopenhauer's central ideas that is insightful, equally, with regard to both Schopenhauer and Kant. Of particular value for Schopen hauer-scholarship is the fact that, along with Schopenhauer and Kant, the presence of LudwigWittgenstein makes itself felt throughout the book even where Wittgenstein (for contemporary Anglo-Saxon philosophy the dec isively important thinker in so many areas) is not mentioned explicitly.. This points to the task of bringing about an examination of Schopenhauer's metaphysics from the standpoint of contemporary analytic philosophy. HereJulian Youngisapioneeruponwhomwecanrely. RudolfMalter. (TranslatedfromtheGermanbyJulianYoung.) vii Preface Kant thought to reform metaphysics by showing, once and for all, that knowledge of the transcedent is, for human beings, impossible. Philosophy wastobecomemorerespectablebybecomingmoremodest,byrecognisingthat "all possible speculative knowledge of reason is limited to mere objects of [sense] experience" (CPR Bxxvi). Yet even before his own death Kant's counsels of moderation and self-discipline were already being cast aside in what developed into a positive orgy ofmetaphysical speculation of the most outrageously ambitious character. Bypopular repute, no-one bears greater responsibility for this distaste ful spectacle than Arthur Schopenhauer. With his claim that the world in itself is not, as Kant held, unknowable but is rather "will", he breached, it is supposed, the Kantian limits to the legitimate deployment of human reason with aflagrancysecond tonone. Yet all his life Schopenhauer claimed to be a faithful disciple of the greatman. He viewed himself, in fact,as the only genuine disciple left,and claimed to experience a truly Kaniian disgust at the metaphysical excessesof his contemporaries. In this study I am concerned, firstly, to excavate, reconstitute, and exhibit the rich vein of truth that is to be found in The World as Will and Representation. Concerning, in particular, the foundations of natural science, concerningart and genius, and concerningthemistakenness ofallowinglifeto be dominated by the will, Schopenhauer has, Ibelieve, deep and sometimes wonderful things to say. But,secondly,I am concerned with the question of how to read Schopenhauer. Myanswer tothis question isdominatedby the idea that his claim "ich selbst Kantianer bin" (PP I p.42) is to be taken ab solutely seriously. Following this thread, I argue that he does not, in fact, claim the world in itself to be will at all. Rather, he agrees with Kant that it is, to the rational mind at least, unknowable. As I read him, while the world may appear "as Representation" and, on a deeper level, "as Will",it remains, like an actor who appears as Macbeth and as Hamlet but never as himself, in itself, inscrutable. I should like to express my deep thanks to Ron Atkinson, Jenny Die praam, Andrea Dye, Gottfried Gabriel, Denis Robinson, Carol Schmid, Krister Segerberg, Stan Surma, and Martin Tweedale, who, in various ways, have helped this book to appear and to be better than it would otherwise have been. I should like to thank, also, the University of Auckland for the study leave that provided the time during which most ofit was written, and the Universities of Exeter and Constance whose hospitality provided the place. And I should liketo thank the German AcademicExchangeServicefor the grant which made six months at the edge of the magical LakeConstance possible. Finally, I should like to thank the editor of the Schopenhauer ix PREFACE [ahrbuch, Rudolf Malter, for allowing me to use material from my 'A Scho penhauerian Solution to Schopenhauerian Pessimism' (vol 68, 1987) in Chapter X, and for writing the foreword to this book, and the editors of Kani-Siudien, Gerhard Funke and Rudolf Malter, for allowing me to use material from my 'The Standpointof Eternity: Schopenhaueron Art' (vol 78, 1987) in ChapterVII. The translationsfrom the Germanused in the text are myownbutI have not gratuitously departed from those cited in the bibliography. Serious de partures are generally accompanied by the German original in parentheses. Frequently cited works areabbreviated in the following manner: Schopenhauer TheWorld as Will and Repersentation vol I, vol II WR I, WR II The Fourfold Root of the PrincipleofSufficientReason FR On the Will in Nature WN On the Basis of Morality BM On the Freedomof the HumanWill FW Parerga and Paralipomena vol I,vol II PP I,PP II Kant The CritiqueofPureReason CPR (Numeralsprecededbyan'A'refertopagesin the first edition,by a 'B' the secondedition.) The CritiqueofJudgement q (Numeralsrefer to sectionandparagraphs: thus 57.6refers to the sixth paragraph in § 57.) ProlegomenatoanyFutureMetaphysics Prol. Foundationof the Metaphysics of Morals PM (Numeralsreferto the paginationin the Royal PrussianAcademyEdition.) Wittgenstein Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Tr. Notebooks1914-16 NB x Contents Foreword pagevii Preface ix Part I The Kantian Legacy Chapter I Idealism 1 Introduction 3 2 Kantian Arguments forIdealism 3 3 Biological Idealism 8 4 Summary 12 Chapter II Reason 1 Introduction 15 2 Practical Reason 16 3 Reasonand Perception 18 4 Concept-empiricism 22 Chapter III Metaphysics 1 The Kantian Challenge 27 2 A Naturalistic Metaphysics 28 3 Mysticism and the Limits of Philosophy 33 Part II The World as Will Chapter IV The Limits of Natural Science 1 Introduction 39 2 Scienceand Natural Forces 40 3 The Nature of Matter 43 4 Scienceand Semantics 45 5 Summary 46 Chapter V The Individual Will 1 TheInward Tum 49 2 Will as Character 51 3 Character and Force 52 4 Integrating the Objectiveand SubjectiveImages 53 5 The Empirical Nature of Character 57 6 SomeObjections 60 xi CONTENTS Chapter VI The World as Will 1 Introduction 63 2 The Will in Nature 64 3 Can the Will be "Blind"? 70 4 The World-Will, the Platonic Ideas and Nature-Pessimism 73 Part III The Object seen sub Specie Aeternitatis Chapter VII Art 1 Introduction 81 2 Ordinary Consciousness 82 3 AestheticConsciousness 85 4 Sentimentality 86 5 Artand Emotion 88 6 TheObjectsofArt 92 7 Artand Knowledge 93 8 The Beautiful 95 9 Art and Philosophy 97 10 Art and the Solution to the "ProblemofExistence" 99 Part IV The World seen sub Specie Aeternitatis Chapter VIIIThe Metaphysics of Morals 1 CanPhilosophybePractical? 103 2 Death and Immortality 107 3 Egoism 111 4 Sympathy 115 5 Transcendental Solipsism as a Practical Postulate 118 Chapter XI The Denial of the Will 1 The Transition from Affirmation to Denial 123 2 Suicide 126 3 Nihilism and Mysticism 129 Chapter X Pessimism 1 Introduction 135 2 What Pessimism is Not 135 3 Negativity, Boredom,Timeand Egoism 137 4 ASchopenhauerianSolutiontoPessimism 145 5 TheRejectionofPerfectionism 150 xii