Schopenhauer treatise, 1851
Fishburn and Hughes: 'Byproducts and Leftovers': the title given by Schopenhauer to his two volumes of collected essays, fragments, treatises, aphorisms and reflections published in 1851. It established Schopenhauer's reputation.
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius: the three prime reasons determining the victory of idealist pantheism which are reflected in the first volume can be summarised as follows. All knowledge, being representation of the Will, is rooted in the subject, in all knowing subjects. By shifting our standpoint once and for all and starting from what is represented instead of what represents, we can arrive at an understanding of the inner nature of reality (the Will itself) which cancels all dangers of solipsism. In grasping by immediate intuition our own inner nature (as Will), we are at the same time grasping the inner nature of all phenomena, since the inner, noumenal nature of all things consists in the one, single, indivisible and eternal Will. The same process by which we arrive at the understanding of our own psychology is applicable to our knowledge of the inner reality of what is represented by all the natural sciences. Theology is not an intellectual discipline but the expression of a human desire: it springs 'from the heart, i.e. from the Will'. 'Because a prayer is offered, a God is hypostatised' and within this framework gods 'can and do help when they are served and worshipped'. Deutsches Requiem: on the question of man determining his own destiny, Schopenhauer maintains that, starting again from the standpoint that all life manifestations are representations of the Will which is 'the kernel and essence of man', whatever 'occult power that guides even eternal influences can ultimately have its roots only in our mysterious inner beings' and concludes that 'in the last resort the alpha and the omega of all existence lies within us' (trans. E.F.J. Payne, Oxford 1974,212)." (147-48)