Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900 1st Edition by Frederick C. Beiser (PDF)

Description

Weltschmerz is a study of the pessimism that dominated German philosophy in the second half of the nineteenth century. Pessimism was essentially the theory that life is not worth living. This theory was introduced into German philosophy by Schopenhauer, whose philosophy became very fashionable in the 1860s. Frederick C. Beiser examines the intense and long controversy that arose from Schopenhauer’s pessimism, which changed the agenda of philosophy in Germanyaway from the logic of the sciences and toward an examination of the value of life. He examines the major defenders of pessimism (Philipp Mainländer, Eduard von Hartmann and Julius Bahnsen) and its chief critics, especially Eugen Dühring and the neo-Kantians. The pessimism dispute of the second half of thecentury has been largely ignored in secondary literature and this book is a first attempt since the 1880s to re-examine it and to analyze the important philosophical issues raised by it. The dispute concerned the most fundamental philosophical issue of them all: whether life is worth living.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Anyone raised, as I was, in a very conservative brand of Lutheranism, is already familiar with many aspects of the pessimism infecting late 19th century German philosophy: the world is very evil, the foe is at the gate, and so on. I found much of interest in this well-written book, but my favorite example of Weltschmerzian dark humor is the sad story of Philipp Batz (Nomen est omen!) aka Philipp Mainlaender, who hanged himself on April Fool’s Day, 1876, by stepping off a stack of his own just-published tome, Die Philosophie der Erloesung. A bizarre tribute to the German sense of absurdity in human life, and a cautionary example of publish AND perish for ambitious academics today.

⭐I really enjoyed this book, was swept along with the writing about these more or less forgotten thinkers. Beiser makes them interesting and thereby gets you to make the effort to learn what they have to sak. In the ned you learn something, and want to learn even more!

⭐This is a good book in that it offers information on German philosophers who’s work has yet to be translated into English. If you don’t care enough to learn the German language, which is the best way to digest these philosophers, then this book may be of value to you. It also offers a fresh perspective on German pessimism and is fairly well researched. With that being said, you should just read Schopenhauer. Don’t waste too much of your time reading what others think they understand of great philosophers. Read them yourself, see what you think first. There is a transformation that takes place by actually reading the philosopher’s work, and it doesn’t come from reading other’s commentaries on it. Put in the work.This book will inform you. The philosopher’s works will change you.

⭐Giftedly Clear & Not So Melancholic or World-WearyI initially picked up this book because I was interested to read about Philipp Mainländer and Julius Bahnsen, two German pessimist philosophers whose works are only available in German and who are, until the publication of this book, not widely known as much as is (1) Arthur Schopenhauer (2) Julius Frauenstädt, an avid follower of Schopenhauer and a philosopher in his own right, (3) Eugen Dühring or (4) Eduard von Hartmann.The book starts off trying to explain how it was that Germany in the 1860s became obsessed with pessimism. The author explains how, and then he explores how widely pessimism was the main subject for many philosophers at the time — even before Arthur Schopenhauer’s main volumes appeared in print. The story told is dramatic and interesting, so I thought that I had to read the book all the way through to get to and appreciate the two philosophers I wanted to learn about and whose lives and works the author discusses only in the final two chapters of his book.It turns out, after following a fairly dramatic and even gossipy story involving pessimist philosophers Eugen Dühring and Eduard von Hartmann and the latter’s supporters, Olga Plūmacher (originally from Tennessee!) and Agnes Taubert, both of whom wrote and published their own philosophical works, the reader does not need at all to know the history of pessimism in Germany during the last half of the 19th century in order to read, understand and appreciate the penultimate chapter on Philip Mainländer and the final, long chapter on Julius Bahnsen.The author, Frederick C. Beiser, really presents the interested reader with a genuine gift with his writing and his publishing of this work. The writing is clear, easy to follow, no matter how difficult the ideational teasings apart of various philosophical feathers concerning will, representation, monism, individualism, thing-in-itself, etcetera. And the narration is curiously visual, dramatic, and consistent in tone and presentation throughout.An astonishing thing is that reading this book is not a pessimistic experience and, with the author’s help, I really felt that neither Dūhring nor Hartmann – nor even Bahnsen were all that pessimistic — at least not in the way the “king of pessimism,” Arthur Schopenhauer, was and is in his “Will as World and Representation.” And Schopenhauer himself no longer seemed the atheist I first took him to be — given Mr. Beiser’s revelations about what Eugen Dūhring’s analysis of Schopenhauer’s pessimism exposes: Schopenhauer retained the theological scaffolding of German Protestantism despite an absent godhead.I personally did not find anything useful in Philipp Mainländer’s philosophy, despite Mr. Beiser’s diligent attempts to uncover this philosopher’s unique views. I developed an appreciation for Eugen Dühring’s economic views, which I now think ought to be seriously considered for today’s world, and I did come away with a respect for Julius Bahnsen’s ideas, which Mr. Beiser does a careful if long, painstaking, and beautifully clear presentation of, and I can only hope that Mr. Beiser will, in his own way, continue to awaken the public to this obscure philosopher’s ideas, hopefully, perhaps, by translating something from Bahnsen’s numerous works into English for avid pursuers of this man’s philosophy.

⭐i bought it for a student in philosophy. Very appreciated

⭐I must say I was expecting something else. Although this book deals with the period following Schopenhauer’s death, I have noticed a surprising superficiality in dealing with this very fundamental philosopher. Already in the chapter on the fundamentals of Schopenhauer’s philosophy the exposition is rude and the author does not seem to have a deep knowledge of the whole apparatus of Schopenhauer’s thought. Yet Baiser is aware of a very important fact, which I too have pointed out, namely that Anglo-Saxon criticism often has a certain difficulty in understanding Schopenhauer, his “unique thought” does not lend itself to exasperated dissection because the Schopenhauerian thought is alive only if perceived entirely. In then presenting the pessimistic philosophers of the period after 1860, there is too much insistence on their departure from Schopenhauer, which in any case remains their fundamental ground for all these, and it would have been very interesting to rely on the true and profound relationship with Schopenhauer instead of exasperating it the differences, differences and problems that are often due to misunderstandings of those same philosophers. Schopenhauer in fact always answered the doubts of his “followers” and did so until his death.Schopenhauer had to be made the center of this book, not its periphery.The title of this book may have been “How to misunderstandig Schopenhauer after 1860”

⭐This book shows up how the seeds planted by the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer grow up. From the year of his death in 1860 until the end of the century several philosophers followed the footprints into pessimism.The book makes a good overview about the thoughts of pessimistic philosophy by Philipp Mainländer, Julius Bahnsen and Eduard von Hartmann and how they faced the problems of the world.Very recommend because it shows german philosphy in its lesser known areas.

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