| Synopsis: |
This is an essential volume by Arthur Schopenhauer, in its 1867 'posthumous' edition. The master philosopher discusses how the 'Will' is in fact the primal force at the heart of Nature. Includes the essay "Iconoclasm in German Philosophy" from the Westminster Review that made Schopenhauer famous near the end of his life. "Truth depends upon no one's favour or disfavour, nor does it ask anyone's leave: it stands on its own feet, and has Time for its ally; its power is irresistible, its life indestructible." - Schopenhauer. It is Schopenhauer's groundbreaking philosophical work in its final, posthumous edition. It is essential reading for all students of his philosophy, this is in some ways his most accessible treatise. It is a superlative translation of Arthur Schopenhauer's "On the Will in Nature" made by Madame Karl Hillebrand in 1888; her vast understanding of the intricacies of nineteenth century German enabled her to convey many the subtleties in Schopenhauer's language and to ensure that no misunderstandings made their way into the English. The merit of Mme Hillebrand's rendition of the text is that it replicates Schopenhauer's lucid style so well.The text is that of the 3rd Edition of Arthur Schopenhauer's work, laid before the public in 1867 by Julius Frauenstadt, Arthur Schopenhauer's first 'apostle' and the executor of his literary estate. As he explains in his Preface to this work, the 3rd Edition is a further corrected and amplified version of the previous text (2nd Edition, 1854), based on interleaved annotations left in a copy of "On the Will in Nature" by the author himself. These have either been incorporated into the body of the text, or, where peripheral to the discussion itself, included as footnotes at the end of the volume. It features a Preface by Schopenhauer's Editor - Julius Frauenstadt, the Preface to the 2nd Edition (by Schopenhauer himself) and a section of Textual Annotations are provided after the text. "Notes on Translation" (1888) by Mme Karl Hillebrand, where she explains some key decisions that she has made in translation, feature in the appendices, as well as the essay "Iconoclasm in German Philosophy" from the Westminster Review and a portrait of the author from the end of his life.Here is an extract from the 'Preface' (by Schopenhauer), which should give you a taste of the style and content of this philosophical work: "I have nevertheless one sad piece of news to communicate to our professors of philosophy. Their Caspar Hauser (according to Dorguth) whom they had so carefully secreted, so securely walled up for nearly forty years, that no sound could betray his existence to the world - their Caspar Hauser - I say, has escaped! He has escaped and is running about in the world; - some even say he is a prince. In plain language, the misfortune they feared more than anything has come to pass after all". "In spite of their having done their best to prevent it for more than a generation by acting with united force, with rare constancy, secreting and ignoring to a degree that is without example, my books are beginning and henceforth will continue to be read. Legor et legar: there is no help for it. This is really dreadful and most inopportune; nay, it is a positive fatality, not to say calamity. Is this the recompense for all their faithful, snug secrecy; for having held so firmly and unitedly together? Poor time-servers!What becomes of Horace's assurance:" - Est et fideli tuta silentio Merces, Est et fideli tuta silentio Merces. " For verily they have not been deficient in faithful reticence; rather do they excel in this quality wherever they scent merit. And, after all, it is no doubt the cleverest artifice; for what no one knows, is as though it did not exist. Whether the merces will remain quite so tuta, seems rather doubtful - unless we are to take merces in a bad sense, and for this the support of many a classical authority might certainly be found. These gentlemen had seen quite rightly that the only means to be used against my writings, was to secrete them from the public by maintaining profound silence concerning them, while they kept up a loud noise at the birth of every misshapen offspring of professorial philosophy; as the voice of the new-born Zeus was drowned in days of yore by the clashing of the cymbals of the Corybantes. But this expedient is now used up; the secret is out - the public has discovered me." |