Philipp Mainländer
Philipp Mainländer | |
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Born | Philipp Batz 5 October 1841 |
Died | 1 April 1876 Offenbach am Main, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire | (aged 34)
Education | Commercial school, Dresden |
Notable work | Die Philosophie der Erlösung |
Era | 19th-century philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School |
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Main interests | |
Notable ideas |
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Philipp Mainländer (5 October 1841 – 1 April 1876) was a German
In his central work Die Philosophie der Erlösung (The Philosophy of Redemption or The Philosophy of Salvation)[4] — according to Theodor Lessing, "perhaps the most radical system of pessimism known to philosophical literature"[Note 1] — Mainländer proclaims that life is of negative value, and that "the will, ignited by the knowledge that non-being is better than being, is the supreme principle of morality."[Note 2]
Biography
Early life and career
Born in Offenbach am Main, on October 5, 1841 "as a child of marital rape",[Note 3] Philipp Mainländer grew up the youngest of six siblings. One of his brothers was mentally ill, according to Cesare Lombroso in The Man of Genius, as had been one of his grandfathers who had died of suicide at the age of 33.[8] [9]
Mainländer attended the Realschule in Offenbach from 1848 to 1856.. Mainländer would later describe his five Neapolitan years as the happiest ones of his life.
During this critical period of his life, Mainländer discovered Arthur Schopenhauer's central work The World as Will and Representation. Nineteen years old at the time, he would later describe the event as a penetrating revelation, referring to February 1860 as the "most important of [his] life".[Note 4] Indeed, Schopenhauer would remain the most important influence on Mainländer's later philosophical work.
In 1863, Mainländer returned to Germany to work in his father's business. In the same year, he also penned the three-part poem Die letzten Hohenstaufen ("The Last
In March 1869, Mainländer worked in the banking house J. Mart. Magnus in
Development of Die Philosophie der Erlösung
Although his wealthy parents had bought off his military service in 1861, Mainländer – according to an autobiographic note – expressed the desire "to be absolutely in all things submitted to another one once, to do the lowermost work, to have to obey blindly"[Note 6] and sedulously undertook numerous attempts to serve with weapons. On 6 April 1874, Mainländer, already 32 years old, submitted a request directly to the emperor Wilhelm I of Germany which was granted; this resulted in his appointment to the Cuirassiers in Halberstadt, beginning 28 September. During the four months leading up to his conscription, Mainländer, obsessed with work, composed the first volume of his main work Die Philosophie der Erlösung. Describing this time, he later wrote:
And now an enchanting life began, a spiritual blossoming full of bliss and blissful shivers. […] This life lasted four full months; it filled June, July, August and September. Completely clear, consistent, and well-rounded was my system in my mind, and a creative frenzy revived me that did not need the whip of the thought that I must be finished by 28 September; for on 1 October I had to put on the king's coat - this date could not be postponed. If I hadn't finished by then, it would take three years for me to put the finishing touches on my work, i.e. I would have seen myself thrown into an abyss into which the furies of a broken existence would inevitably have thrown me.[11]
Mainländer handed the completed manuscript to his sister Minna, asking her to find a publisher while he completed his military service. The author composed a letter to the as yet unknown publisher, requesting the omission of his birth name and substitution of the pen name "Philipp Mainländer", and stating that he would abhor nothing more than "being exposed to the eyes of the world".[Note 7]
On 1 November 1875, Mainländer – originally committed for three years, but in the meantime, as he noted in a letter to Minna, "exhausted, worked-out, ... at completely ... healthy body ineffably tired"
Death
Around the beginning of 1876, Mainländer began to doubt whether his life still had value for humanity. He wondered whether he had already completed the duties of life, or whether he should employ it to strengthen the social democratic movement.[13]: 131 Despite writing down addresses to the German workers, these plans did not materialize. The night of April, 1st in his Offenbach apartment, and very shortly after the publication of the first volume of his main work, Mainländer hanged himself.[14][7]: 101 Mainländer was buried in Offenbach cemetery.[15]
His older sister, Minna Batz, having been charged with writing a memoir of her brother, followed him through suicide in 1891.
Philosophy
Working in the metaphysical framework of Schopenhauer, Mainländer sees the "will" as the innermost core of being, the ontological
Additionally, Mainländer accentuates on the idea of salvation for all of creation. This is yet another respect in which he differentiates his philosophy from that of Schopenhauer. With Schopenhauer, the silencing of the will is a rare event. The artistic genius can achieve this state temporarily, while only a few saints have achieved total cessation throughout history. For Mainländer, the entirety of the cosmos is slowly but surely moving towards the silencing of the will to live and to (as he calls it) "redemption".
Mainländer theorized that an initial singularity dispersed and expanded into the known universe. This dispersion from a singular unity to a multitude of things offered a smooth transition between monism and pluralism. Mainländer thought that with the regression of time, all kinds of pluralism and multiplicity would revert to monism and he believed that, with his philosophy, he had managed to explain this transition from oneness to multiplicity and becoming.[16]
Death of God
Despite his scientific means of explanation, Mainländer was not afraid to philosophize in allegorical terms. Formulating his own "myth of creation", Mainländer equated this initial singularity with God.
Mainländer reinterprets Schopenhauer's metaphysics in two important aspects. Primarily, in Mainländer's system there is no "singular will". The basic unity has broken apart into individual wills and each
Ethics
Mainländer's philosophy also carefully inverts other doctrines. For instance,
Mainländer espouses an ethics of egoism. That is to say that what is best for an individual is what makes one happiest. Yet all pursuits and cravings lead to pain. Thus, Mainländer concludes that a will-to-death is best for the happiness of all and knowledge of this transforms one's will-to-life (an illusory existence unable to attain happiness) into the proper (sought by God) will-to-death. Ultimately, the subject (individual will) is one with the universe, in harmony with it and with its originating will, if one wills nothingness. Based on these premises, Mainländer makes the distinction between the "ignorant" and the "enlightened" type of self-interest. Ignorant self-interest seeks to promote itself and capitalize on its will-to-live. In contrast, enlightened self-interest humbles the individual and leads him to asceticism, as that aligns him properly with the elevating will-towards-death.[18]
Personality
It was noted by critics that his work reveals a gentle and warmhearted personality.[19][20][21]: 121 Lucien Arréat expressed that many pages feel warm due to the "generosity of his soul", and as a more general characterization that "Mainländer had a delicate and sincere nature, a truly remarkable individuality."[19]
On every page of his work emerges such a gentle, human-friendly image, who can speak in such a gentle yet serious tone, can smile so sublimely, that – it sounds contradictory to his teachings, but it is true – express such a devout soul, that we, deeply moved, kindly nod to his work, making us confess: you may not convert us to your redemption, but we can and we have to understand you, you pure, noble heart![20]
— Fritz Sommerlad
Frederick C. Beiser also notes "Mainländer's humanity": "He had the deepest sympathy for the suffering of the common man and much of his thinking was preoccupied with the poverty of the mass of people and the workers. … It is not the least token of Mainländer's humanity that he was sympathetic to the Jews, whose charity and sagacity he much admired."[2]: 202–203
Politics and Political Life
Despite his pessimism, Mainländer could be categorized as something of a political optimist. Outlined in his Philosophy of Redemption is the image of a future society akin to a global socialist state. This "final state," as described by Mainländer, is the penultimate step of the Will-to-Death metanarrative, as Mainländer believes that upon the satiation of all human desires, these humans will understand the triviality of existence (specifically, that the pleasures this satiation brought does not outweigh the negative value of existence), and subsequently move towards the extinction of themselves (and possibly life as a whole). [22]
The politics of Mainländer may have played a profound role in the philosopher's suicide. Letters written to his sister, Minna Batz, imply that there was an indecision on his behalf as to whether suicide would be beneficial, or if he could work as a political leader in the German
″If I am not to seek death with pleasure, after this fruit has ripened, lacking any motive, I must enter into the realm of social democracy, which will allow me to become exhausted and dazed, so as not to listen to the seductive voices of this longing for absolute rest, and to achieve redemption forever. […] Whether I shall prefer the repose of death to all this [active political life], and seal my doctrine with it, I do not know for the moment.″ [23]
The letters exchanged between them imply that Mainländer was seeking external support in the form of his sister's blessing for his political career, but due to opposing political beliefs, she refused to bestow it. [24] Despite this, Mainländer wrote that he would seek political activism without her blessing, and yet was found dead by hanging within a short period of time, proving that he had gone back on his original decision. [25]
Reception
Nietzsche immediately read Die Philosophie der Erlösung in the year it was published, before any review had appeared. The work contributed to his final separation from Schopenhauer's philosophy.[26] In his own works, Nietzsche gave no attention to Mainländer until a decade later, that is, in the second, expanded edition of The Gay Science, the same book in which he had introduced the phrase "God is dead" in the first edition five years prior: "Could one count such dilettantes and old maids as the sickeningly sentimental apostle of virginity, Mainländer, as a genuine German? After all he was probably a Jew – (all Jews become sentimental when they moralize)."[27] It has been suggested that Mainländer was more than a mere influence, and was instead plagiarized.[28][29]
Nietzsche also mentions in one of his letters that he met an adherent of Mainländer's philosophy, "a quiet and modest man, a Buddhist […], passionate vegetarian."[Note 9] The "modest man" told Nietzsche that Mainländer was, in fact, not a Jew.[31]
In the same period, Max Seiling wrote that he believed Mainländer to be one of the few wise heroes to have walked on this earth.[21]: 6
Mainländer's work was not well received by authorities. In Imperial Russia, Mainländer's essay on the esoteric meaning of the Trinity was banned.[32] In the German Reichstag, Die Philosophie der Erlösung was brought up to the rostrum on occasion of the Anti-Socialist Laws.[32] Prominent socialists however took interest in his work. The socialist leader August Bebel refers to and uses the arguments of the pessimistic philosopher in his feminist work Woman and Socialism.[33] Bebel mentions Mainländer's sister in his autobiography.[34] Also Eduard Bernstein wrote that he was "very interested" in Mainländer.[35] Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis (1846–1919), the first prominent Dutch socialist, considered Mainländer's work a "great contribution" for socialism.[36]
Alfred Kubin, one of the founders of Der Blaue Reiter, wrote about Die Philosophie der Erlösung, "this work – which expresses my actual thoughts and steels and strengthens me – this philosophy, forms the consolation of my life and death."[Note 10]
The Japanese writer
Emil Cioran was very impressed by the work of Mainländer.[40]
Works
In English:
- The Philosophy of Redemption (translation by Christian Romuss; Irukandji Press, 2024)
In German:
- Die Philosophie der Erlösung (Vol. I: 1876; Vol. II: 1886)
- Die Letzten Hohenstaufen. Ein dramatisches Gedicht in drei Theilen: Enzo – Manfred – Conradino (1876)
- Die Macht der Motive. Literarischer Nachlaß von 1857 bis 1875 (1999)
In Spanish:
- Filosofía de la redención (translation by Manuel Pérez Cornejo; Ediciones Xorki, 2014)
See also
- Buddhist modernism
- Death of God theology
- God became the universe
- Apocatastasis
- Universal reconciliation
Notes
- ^ "vielleicht das radikalste System des Pessimismus, das die philosophische Literatur kennt"[5]
- ^ "[der] von der Erkenntnis, daß Nichtsein besser ist als Sein, entzündete Wille [ist] das oberste Prinzip aller Moral."[6]
- ^ "als Kind ehelicher Notzucht"[7]: 95
- ^ "[den] bedeutungsvollsten Tag [seines] Lebens"[7]: 98
- ^ "nicht durch Fichte, Schelling und Hegel vergiftet, sondern vielmehr durch Schopenhauer kritisch gestählt"[7]: 102
- ^ "einmal unbedingt einem anderen in allem unterworfen zu sein, die niedrigste Arbeit zu tun, blind gehorchen zu müssen"[7]: 88
- ^ "als den Augen der Welt ausgesetzt zu sein"[12]
- ^ "verbraucht, worked out, … bei vollkommen … gesundem Körper unaussprechlich müde"[13]: 121
- ^ "ein stiller bescheidener Mann, Buddhist, etwas Anhänger Mainländer's, begeisterter Vegetarianer."[30]
- ^ "dieses Werk– welches meine eigentlichen Gedanken ausspricht und mich stählt und festigt, – diese Philosophie bildet den Trost meines Lebens und Sterbens"[37]
References
- ^ Monika Langer, Nietzsche's Gay Science: Dancing Coherence, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, p. 231.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-876871-5.
- ^ Mainländer, Philipp (2018). The Immanent Philosophy of Philipp Mainländer: Analytic of the Cognition, section 28 (PDF).
- ^ Windelband, W (1958). History of philosophy. New York: Harper & Row.
In this respect he comes into contact with Mainländer, who with him and after him worked out Schopenhauer's theory to an ascetic "Philosophy of Salvation".
- ^ Theodor Lessing: Schopenhauer, Wagner, Nietzsche. Eine Einführung in die moderne Philosophie. Leipzig 1907.
- ^ Philipp Mainländer: Philosophie der Erlösung. Quoted after Ulrich Horstmann (Ed.): Vom Verwesen der Welt und anderen Restposten, Manuscriptum, Warendorf 2003, p. 85.
- ^ a b c d e Fritz Sommerlad: Aus dem Leben Philipp Mainländers. Mitteilungen aus der handschriftlichen Selbstbiographie des Philosophen. Printed in Winfried H. Müller Seyfarth (ed.): Die modernen Pessimisten als décadents. Texte zur Rezeptionsgeschichte von Philipp Mainländers‚ Philosophie der Erlösung.
- ISBN 9783752434262.
- ^ The Ontological Suicide of Philipp Mainländer: A Search for Redemption Through Nothingness. 10.1007/978-3-031-28982-8_10
- ^ Gajardo, Paolo. (2023). The Ontological Suicide of Philipp Mainländer: A Search for Redemption Through Nothingness. 10.1007/978-3-031-28982-8_10.
- OCLC 76487012.
- ^ Philipp Mainländer: Meine Soldatengeschichte. Tagebuchblätter. Quoted after Ulrich Horstmann (Ed.): Vom Verwesen der Welt und anderen Restposten. Manuscriptum, Warendorf 2003, p. 211
- ^ a b Walther Rauschenberger: "Aus der letzten Lebenszeit Philipp Mainländers. Nach ungedruckten Briefen und Aufzeichnungen des Philosophen." Süddeutsche Monatshefte 9.
- ^ Gajardo, Paolo. (2023). The Ontological Suicide of Philipp Mainländer: A Search for Redemption Through Nothingness. 10.1007/978-3-031-28982-8_10.
- ^ Sommerlad, Fritz (1898). "Aus dem Leben Philipp Mainländers" [From the life of Philipp Mainländer]. Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik (in German). 112: 74–101.
- ^ Mainländer, Philipp (2018). The Immanent Philosophy of Philipp Mainländer: Metaphysics, section 2 (PDF).
- ^ Beiser, Frederick (2016). Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Beiser, Frederick. Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900. Oxford University Press, (2016), chapter on Ethics.
- ^ a b Arréat, Lucien (January 1885). "La philosophie de la rédemption d'après un pessimiste". Revue philosophique. 19: 632 – via BnF Gallica.
- ^ a b Sommerlad, Fritz (1899). Rupertine del Fino. Frei bearbeitet und mit einem Vorwort von Fritz Sommerlad. München: Morgenblatt der Allgemeinen Zeitung. p. 4. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016.
- ^ a b Seiling, Max (1888). Mainländer, ein neuer Messias: ein frohe Botschaft inmitten der herrschenden Geistesverwirrung. München.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Gajardo, Paolo. (2023). The Ontological Suicide of Philipp Mainländer: A Search for Redemption Through Nothingness. 10.1007/978-3-031-28982-8_10.
- ^ Rauschenberger, W. (1912). Los últimos momentos de la vida de Philipp Mainländer (según cartas inéditas y notas del lósofo) [The last moments of Philipp Mainländer’s life (according to unpublished letters and notes from the philosopher)]. Süddeutsche Monatshefte, 9, p. 124
- ^ Gajardo, Paolo. (2023). The Ontological Suicide of Philipp Mainländer: A Search for Redemption Through Nothingness. 10.1007/978-3-031-28982-8_10.
- ^ Gajardo, Paolo. (2023). The Ontological Suicide of Philipp Mainländer: A Search for Redemption Through Nothingness. 10.1007/978-3-031-28982-8_10.
- ISBN 9780252032455.
Decher emphasizes the importance of the fact that Mainländer reinterpreted Schopenhauer's metaphysical and single will to a less metaphysical multiplicity of wills (always in struggle) and the importance of this for Nietzsche's will to power. It was in a letter to Cosima Wagner, on December 19, 1876, that is, while reading Mainländer, that Nietzsche for the first time explicitly claimed to have parted ways with Schopenhauer. It may be relevant that Mainländer's book ends with a long section (more than 200 pages) consisting mainly of a critique of Schopenhauer's metaphysics.
- ^ Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Gay Science. § 357.
- ^ "SWR2 Wissen: Philipp Mainländers Anleitung zum glücklichen Nichtsein". Südwestrundfunk. 28 September 2008.
Erzählerin: "Lust schafft Leid – das meinte schon Schopenhauer. Friedrich Nietzsche, ein anderer Schopenhauerschüler, studierte Mainländers Philosophie der Erlösung. Einige „Mainländerianer" haben ihn bezichtigt, von ihm abgeschrieben zu haben." O-Ton - Guido Rademacher: "Ob er jetzt tatsächlich ein Plagiator war, das kann ich nicht behaupten. Es gibt fantastische Parallelen."
- ISBN 978-1-84790-006-7.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ Friedrich Nietzsche: Letter to Heinrich Köselitz, 17/05/1888.
- ^ Friedrich Nietzsche: Letter to Heinrich Köselitz, 17/05/1888 — Er hat mir bewiesen, daß Mainländer kein Jude war. —"
- ^ a b Arrét, Jullien (January 1885). "La philosophie de la rédemption d'après un pessimiste". Revue philosophique. 19: 648 – via BnF Gallica.
- ^ Bebel, August (1879). Die Frau und Sozialismus. Zürich-Hottingen: Volksbuchhandlung. pp. 18, 90, 144.
- ^ Bebel, August (1914). Aus meinem Leben. Berlin.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Bernstein to Kautsky, 17.8.1984
- ^ Domela Nieuwenhuis, Ferdinand (1880). "De Wijsbegeerte der Verlossing". De Banier. 1: 247–287.
- ^ Winfried H. Müller-Seyfarth: Lichte Finsternis, Alfred Kubin und Ernst Barlach 2015.
- ^ Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (8 June 2018). "Note to an Old Friend".
- ISBN 978-0-8048-3251-9.
- ISBN 978-1441104342.
"Cioran was impressed especially by Mainländer".
Further reading
- Beiser, Frederick C., Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
External links
- Works by or about Philipp Mainländer at Internet Archive
- The Riddles of Philosophy, Part II, Chapter VI: Modern Idealistic World Conceptions. An essay by Rudolph Steiner that mentions Mainländer.
- Aleksander Samarin's entry on Mainländer in his Enigma of Immortality.
- The rotting God - Mainländer's Metaphysics of Entropy.
- Fabio Ciracì, "La filosofia della redenzione di Philipp Mainlaender", Pensa MultiMedia, Lecce 2006.
- Extracts from The Philosophy of Redemption translated by Christian Romuss