philosophy

This is the first of three biographies of philosophers by the German writer Safranski. I got all three (this one, Nietzsche en Heidegger) to review, the other two I have yet to read. I hoped to learn more about the philosophy of the pessimistic German philosopher Schopenhauer (1799-1860), but this thick book (+500 pages) is mostly filled with biographical information. Schopenhauers early years, the relation with his mother, sister, the philosopher Goethe (a friend of his mothers), love-affairs; how Arthur (and Safranski usually refers to him) was an original, but underrated (yet over-self-confident) philosopher who only in the later years of his life got the success that he longed for. Before he really got used to that, Arthur died at a respectable age. The main themes of Schopenhauers philosophy I got from an encyclopedia of philosophers, but knowing them, they are can also be found in the book of Safranski. They are the (superhuman) “will” which is the cause of all and the rest is “imagination”, as in the Eastern doctrine of “maya” (“illusion”).

All in all a nice read, but only if you are mainly interested in biographical information and not for people (like myself) who want to learn about the philosophy of Schopenhauer. Safranski does display himself a wellread philosopher who totally understands Schopenhauer, because in a few chapters he not only speaks about Schopenhauers contemporaries and influences in depth, but he also explains parts of their and Arthurs philosophy in understandable terms. Still, you can’t use this book for reference, since the index has only names… A biography, not much more, but certainly nothing less.

Cioran (1911-1995) I only knew from a long anounced compilation project that is dedicated to this man and so far still not released. When I got the change to get a Dutch translation of him for review, I didn’t wait to take it, so now I have one of the five works of this Romenian philosopher that is available in my native language. This little book is released by the ‘historic publisher’ (“Historische Uitgeverij”) and the only Cioran text from this company. The other four are released by ‘laborer press’ (“Arbeiderspers”) from Belgium. The present book, La Tentation d’Exister consists of 11 essays that were released together in 1956 and in Dutch in 2001.

Cioran suffered from chronic depressions that were sometimes eased by mystic peaks. However Cioran never became fond of philosophy, he remained more of a philosopher than a mystic himself. Also his depressions have the upper hand in this bundle, all texts are totally splenetic. This depressed view on life also had its stamp on Ciorans view of the world. The world -but especially Europe- is falling apart in its misery. A small ‘point of light’ was the upcoming of fascism, of course with Hitler, but in Ciorans case especially in the form of the Iron Guard of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899-1938). For a time, Cioran felt attracted to Codreanus legion. For this reason Cioran is one of these philosophers that are ‘not done’. But what do you find of this temporary interest of fascism in the reviewed book? Not much, but Cioran in general is difficult and it is hard to find out what he really thought. A good (or rather a very bad?) example in this respect is the article “a people of self contained” which is about the Jews. Cioran displays a love-hate relationship and I don’t know what his sentiments were when he wrote the article. The same goes for other things Cioran describes, but the overall tone is a severe pessimism. But because everything is written in a very bombastic style I frequently had to laugh of what Cioran has to say. I don’t know if this goes for everyone, the opening article -for example- is a punch in the face of the eclectic (New Age) thinker and other views could cause people to feel attacked as well.

All in all I enjoyed reading this little book and Cioran is (at least in my eyes) unique with his strange mixture of philosophy and mysticism and his descriptions of philosophy, history, cultures, literature and poetry. A well-read pessimist!