Philipp Mainländer
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Philipp Mainländer
Philipp Mainländer (5 October 1841 – 1 April 1876) was a German philosopher and poet. Born Philipp Batz, he later changed his name to "Mainländer" in homage to his hometown, Offenbach am Main. In his central work (''The Philosophy of Redemption'' or ''The Philosophy of Salvation'') — according to Theodor Lessing, "perhaps the most radical system of pessimism known to philosophical literature" — Mainländer proclaims that life is worthless, and that "the will, ignited by the knowledge that non-being is better than being, is the supreme principle of morality." Biography Early life and career Born in Offenbach am Main, on October 5, 1841 "as a child of marital rape", 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 at the age of 33. Mainländer attended the Realschule in Offenbach from 1848 to 1856. In 1856, at hi ...
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Offenbach Am Main
Offenbach am Main () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Hesse, Germany, on the left bank of the river Main (river), Main. It borders Frankfurt and is part of the Frankfurt urban area and the larger Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It has a population of 138,335 (December 2018). In the 20th century, the city's economy was built on machine-building, leather-making, typography and design, and the automobile and pharmaceutical industries. Geography Subdivision The inner city area of Offenbach is quite large and consists of the historic center of the city and its expansions of the 1800s. Three formerly independent suburbs were incorporated in the first half of the 20th century: Offenbach-Bürgel, Bürgel being the first in 1908, then Offenbach-Bieber, Bieber and Offenbach-Rumpenheim, Rumpenheim in 1938 and 1942. South of the inner city area are the suburbs Offenbach-Lauterborn, Lauterborn, Offenbach-Rosenhöhe, Rosenhöhe and Te ...
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Critique Of The Schopenhauerian Philosophy
Critique of the Schopenhaurian philosophy is a literary work by Philipp Mainländer appended to ''Die Philosophie der Erlösung'', offering a criticism of the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer''.'' Mainländer saw the purification of Schopenhauer's philosophy as the primary task of his life. The criticism had an important impact on Nietzsche's philosophical development. General overview The ''Critique of the Schopenhauerian philosophy'' is generally seen as offering a position closer to realism than the idealism of Kant and Schopenhauer. Mainländer aims to free the philosophy of Schopenhauer from its metaphysical tendencies. It is the longest criticism of Schopenhauer's work, and it earned him the praise of Frauenstädt, "apostle primarie" of Schopenhauer, Max Seiling and Frederick C. Beiser for being one of the most talented followers of Schopenhauer. Epistemology Background of the critical philosophy Locke had referred all philosophical research to the domain of ...
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Meaninglessness Of Life
Existential nihilism is the philosophical theory that life has no intrinsic meaning or value.Veit, W. (2018). Existential Nihilism: The Only Really Serious Philosophical Problem – Journal of Camus Studies 2018: 211-236. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.26965.24804 With respect to the universe, existential nihilism suggests that a single human or even the entire human species is insignificant, without purpose and unlikely to change in the totality of existence. According to the theory, each individual is an isolated being born into the universe, barred from knowing 'why'. The inherent meaninglessness of life is largely explored in the philosophical school of existentialism, where one can potentially create their own subjective 'meaning' or 'purpose'. Of all types of nihilism, existential nihilism has received the most literary and philosophical attention. Meaning of life The idea that meaning and values are without foundation is a form of nihilism, and the existential response t ...
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Philosophical Pessimism
Philosophical pessimism is a family of philosophical views that assign a negative value to life or existence. Philosophical pessimists commonly argue that the world contains an Empiricism, empirical prevalence of pains over pleasures, that existence is Ontology, ontologically or Metaphysics, metaphysically adverse to living beings, and that life is fundamentally meaningless or without Teleology, purpose. Their responses to this condition, however, are widely varied and can be life-affirming. Philosophical pessimism is not a single coherent movement, but rather a loosely associated group of thinkers with similar ideas and a resemblance to each other. In ''Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900'', Frederick C. Beiser describes philosophical pessimism as "the thesis that life is not worth living, that nothingness is better than being, or that it is worse to be than not be". In a very similar way, Schopenhauer argues that it would have been better if life had not come ...
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Theodor Lessing
Karl Theodor Richard Lessing (8 February 1872, Hanover – 31 August 1933, Marienbad) was a German Jewish philosopher. He is known for opposing the rise of Hindenburg as president of the Weimar Republic and for his classic on Jewish self-hatred (''Der jüdische Selbsthaß''), a book which he wrote in 1930, three years before Adolf Hitler came to power, in which he tried to explain the phenomenon of Jewish intellectuals who incited antisemitism against the Jewish people and who regarded Judaism as the source of evil in the world. Lessing's political ideals, as well as his Zionism made him a very controversial person during the rise of Nazi Germany. He fled to Czechoslovakia where he lived in Marienbad in the villa of a local social democratic politician. On the night of 30 August 1933, he was assassinated by Sudeten German Nazi sympathizers. Lessing was shot through a window of the villa where he lived. His assassins were German Nazis from Sudetenland, Rudolf Max Eckert, Rudo ...
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Poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or written), or they may also perform their art to an audience. The work of a poet is essentially one of communication, expressing ideas either in a literal sense (such as communicating about a specific event or place) or metaphorically. Poets have existed since prehistory, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary greatly in different cultures and periods. Throughout each civilization and language, poets have used various styles that have changed over time, resulting in countless poets as diverse as the literature that (since the advent of writing systems) they have produced. History In Ancient Rome, professional poets were generally sponsored by patrons, wealthy supporters including nobility and military officials. For inst ...
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Philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras (6th century BCE).. In the Classics, classical sense, a philosopher was someone who lived according to a certain way of life, focusing upon resolving Meaning of life, existential questions about the human condition; it was not necessary that they discoursed upon Theory, theories or commented upon authors. Those who most arduously committed themselves to this lifestyle would have been considered ''philosophers''. In a modern sense, a philosopher is an intellectual who contributes to one or more branches of philosophy, such as aesthetics, ethics, epistemology, philosophy of science, logic, metaphysics, social theory, philosophy of religion, and political philosophy. A philosopher may also be someone who has worked in the hum ...
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Max Seiling
Max Seiling (1852–1928) was a German engineer and writer. Life and career Born in Mittenwald, Max Seiling emigrated, after having studied in München, to the Grand Duchy of Finland where he became a professor at a polytechnic school. Because of this activity, he was promoted to Privy Councillor of the Russian crown. Seiling was involved in the anthroposophist movement and was initially an enthusiastic supporter, but eventually became one of their most ardent opponents. In his later years, he became a devout Roman Catholic. His wife was Helene Seiling, who wrote a cookbook for vegetarians. Seiling died in Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li .... Works * ''Mainlander: Ein Neuer Messias'' (München, 1888) * ''Meine Erfahrungen auf dem Gebiet des Spiritismu''s ...
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Alfred Kubin
Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (10 April 1877 – 20 August 1959) was an Austrian printmaker, illustrator, and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism (arts), Symbolism and Expressionism. Biography Kubin was born in Kingdom of Bohemia, Bohemia in the town of Leitmeritz, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Litoměřice). From 1892 to 1896, he was apprenticed to the Landscape photography, landscape photographer Alois Beer, although he learned little. In 1896, he attempted suicide on his mother's grave, and his short stint in the Austrian army the following year ended with a nervous breakdown. In 1898, Kubin began a period of artistic study at a private academy run by the painter Ludwig Schmitt-Reutte, before enrolling at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, Munich Academy in 1899, without finishing his studies there. In Munich, Kubin discovered the works of Odilon Redon, Edvard Munch, James Ensor, Henry de Groux, and Félicien Rops. He was profoundly affe ...
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Ulrich Horstmann
Ulrich Horstmann (born 31 May 1949 in Bünde) is a German literary scholar and writer, who has also written under the pseudonym Klaus Steintal. Life Ulrich Horstmann finished his studies of English and Philosophy in 1974 with a doctoral thesis on Edgar Allan Poe. He was a lecturer at the University of South Africa in Pretoria. After habilitation in 1983 he lectured at the University of Münster until 1987. Since 1991 he has been a professor of English and American literature at the University of Giessen. He lives in Marburg. Since 1976 Ulrich Horstmann has published, alongside scientific work, essays, novels and plays of his own, as well as translations from English. In 1983 he became known for his treatise ''The Beast'', in which he promoted a philosophical position which was diametrically opposed to the peace movement Zeitgeist of those years: He advocated a philosophy of "escape of mankind" which aims for an early self-destruction of the human race by means of the accumulated n ...
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Emil Cioran
Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. His works frequently engaged with issues of suffering, decay, and nihilism. In 1937, Cioran moved to the Latin Quarter of Paris, which became his permanent residence, wherein he lived in seclusion with his partner, Simone Boué, until his death in 1995. Early life Cioran was born in Resinár, Szeben County, Kingdom of Hungary (today Rășinari, Sibiu County, Romania). His father, Emilian Cioran, was an Orthodox priest, and his mother, Elvira, was the head of the ''Christian Women's League''. At 10, Cioran moved to Sibiu to attend school, and at 17, he was enrolled in the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Bucharest, where he met Eugène Ionesco and Mircea Eliade, who became his friends. Future Romanian philoso ...
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Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person ever to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24. Nietzsche resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 45, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes. Nietzsche's writing spans philosophical polemics ...
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