WeltgeistOne of the more interesting curiosities of history, is that two great German philosophers, Schopenhauer and Hegel, both caught a glimpse of Napoleon Bonaparte.
How each of them thought about Napoleon, his role in history and his significance for mankind, provides a nice exploration of their respective philosophies.
Hegel’s encounter with the Emperor is perhaps the most famous one.
On the day before the Battle of Jena in October 1806, Napoleon entered the German city to inspect it for reconnaissance purposes. While touring the streets of Jena, mounted on a horse, he was spotted by Hegel. He later wrote to a friend:
“I saw the Emperor—this world-soul [Weltseele]—riding out of the city on reconnaissance. It is indeed a wonderful sensation to see such an individual, who, concentrated here at a single point, astride a horse, reaches out over the world and masters it.” Letter to Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer
Napoleon, for Hegel, was a world-historic figure who played a crucial, but necessary, part in moving history toward its goal. Napoleon was the vehicle by which the French Revolution was completing itself outside of France, as part of a larger project wherein the Geist, or Spirit, gradually comes to know itself through time.
Aside from the fact that Schopenhauer doesn’t believe in a progression of history like Hegel does, the suffering caused by such conquerors as Napoleon or Alexander the Great, is simply too large for there ever to be a net positive for mankind.
For Hegel, Napoleon as a world-historic figure is fulfilling a destiny, he is the vessel with which history and the Geist unfold itself. For Schopenhauer, Napoleon is just one more bloodthirsty conqueror in a long line of bloodthirsty conquerors, without a special purpose and without the possibility for redemption.
What is unique in the character of Napoleon, is his extraordinary intelligence, courage, and above all will to subject the world to his power. This combination of traits makes Napoleon unique, but not special.
In Napoleon we find a rare individual who can completely indulge in the destruction craved by the will to life. The will, of which Napoleon is but one objectification, seeks to continually assert itself at the cost of other instantiations of the will. In other words, through Napoleon the will has found a perfect vehicle to perpetuate itself. But all of this suffering only takes place in the world of representation – on the fundamental level, in the world as will, the person who inflicts suffering is the same as the person who undergoes the suffering.
What is important to remember as far as Napoleon is concerned, is that for Schopenhauer, Napoleon is a unique individual but not a special individual. He is unique in so far as he was a gifted military commander, born in the right place at the right time, with the right set of talents to succeed in such an environment. He is not special, however. He is not special because fundamentally, Napoleon is just as egoistic and ambitious as the rest of mankind.
Napoleons Role in History (Hegel vs Schopenhauer)Weltgeist2021-09-29 | One of the more interesting curiosities of history, is that two great German philosophers, Schopenhauer and Hegel, both caught a glimpse of Napoleon Bonaparte.
How each of them thought about Napoleon, his role in history and his significance for mankind, provides a nice exploration of their respective philosophies.
Hegel’s encounter with the Emperor is perhaps the most famous one.
On the day before the Battle of Jena in October 1806, Napoleon entered the German city to inspect it for reconnaissance purposes. While touring the streets of Jena, mounted on a horse, he was spotted by Hegel. He later wrote to a friend:
“I saw the Emperor—this world-soul [Weltseele]—riding out of the city on reconnaissance. It is indeed a wonderful sensation to see such an individual, who, concentrated here at a single point, astride a horse, reaches out over the world and masters it.” Letter to Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer
Napoleon, for Hegel, was a world-historic figure who played a crucial, but necessary, part in moving history toward its goal. Napoleon was the vehicle by which the French Revolution was completing itself outside of France, as part of a larger project wherein the Geist, or Spirit, gradually comes to know itself through time.
Aside from the fact that Schopenhauer doesn’t believe in a progression of history like Hegel does, the suffering caused by such conquerors as Napoleon or Alexander the Great, is simply too large for there ever to be a net positive for mankind.
For Hegel, Napoleon as a world-historic figure is fulfilling a destiny, he is the vessel with which history and the Geist unfold itself. For Schopenhauer, Napoleon is just one more bloodthirsty conqueror in a long line of bloodthirsty conquerors, without a special purpose and without the possibility for redemption.
What is unique in the character of Napoleon, is his extraordinary intelligence, courage, and above all will to subject the world to his power. This combination of traits makes Napoleon unique, but not special.
In Napoleon we find a rare individual who can completely indulge in the destruction craved by the will to life. The will, of which Napoleon is but one objectification, seeks to continually assert itself at the cost of other instantiations of the will. In other words, through Napoleon the will has found a perfect vehicle to perpetuate itself. But all of this suffering only takes place in the world of representation – on the fundamental level, in the world as will, the person who inflicts suffering is the same as the person who undergoes the suffering.
What is important to remember as far as Napoleon is concerned, is that for Schopenhauer, Napoleon is a unique individual but not a special individual. He is unique in so far as he was a gifted military commander, born in the right place at the right time, with the right set of talents to succeed in such an environment. He is not special, however. He is not special because fundamentally, Napoleon is just as egoistic and ambitious as the rest of mankind.The Art of Not Reading (and Two Hours of Life Advice from Schopenhauer) (Supercut)Weltgeist2024-09-26 | For new subscribers, this is a supercut of most of our videos on Schopenhauer's life advice, as he filled his writings with actionable advice for a happy life.
The Art of Not Reading Why It Pays to Play Dumb How to be Happy The Power of Being Alone
Buy the book The Greeks and Greek Civilization: amzn.to/3T5xAGc
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction 01:16 The Greeks: A Bunch of Liars 03:21 The Greeks and Greek Civilisation (Burckhardt) 12:02 Oh, Those Greeks! (Nietzsche) 16:41 The problem of Plato
This video is sponsored by Imprint.The Power of Joy in Nietzsches PhilosophyWeltgeist2024-06-30 | Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos: ▶ patreon.com/WeltgeistYT
Prometheus is a Titan from Greek mythology who stole fire to help humanity, and was violently punished for this by Zeus.
The figure of Prometheus, and his story, has served as inspiration for artists and philosophers for centuries.
For Goethe, Prometheus was a champion of mankind who, in his defiance of Zeus, exemplified mankind's growing to maturity as we reach Enlightenment and mankind starts to defy the Christian God just like Prometheus did Zeus.
For Lord Byron, Prometheus was the exemplar of a person who finds something in life worth dying for. For his transgression and theft of the fire, he was chained to a rock for all eternity as a vulture gnaws at his liver daily. Yet Prometheus undergoes his punishment with stoicism, and knows that ultimately, despite his suffering and pain, he had given his life a purpose beyond himself: alleviating the suffering of others by granting mankind knowledge. Byron's message is that we should all find something that makes us want to bear the vulture and the chain.
Finally, Nietzsche saw in the Prometheus myth the origin story of Western civilization, contrasted with the Biblical origin story of Adam and Eve. Prometheus brings knowledge to mankind through fire, just as Adam and Eve brought knowledge through the fruit. But this knowledge, in both stories, comes at a cost. For Adam and Eve, it meant banishment from paradise and original sin for mankind. For Prometheus, it meant the vulture, and the knowledge of the suffering of the world for mankind.
Thus Prometheus continues to speak to the imagination of many different artists and eras who each find in his story another lesson we inherit, but ultimately the overarching lesson is this: the price for our knowledge as human beings, is that we become aware of the suffering of the world. And it's up to us to learn how to deal with that.The Significance of Existence in Nietzsches PhilosophyWeltgeist2024-06-27 | Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos: ▶ patreon.com/WeltgeistYT
Pascal's Wager is usually presented online as an argument for God's existence - and it's just as quickly debunked.
But these debunkings often happen because people aren't informed about the context surrounding the wager. Blaise Pascal himself never intended the wager to be a proof of anything. He believed God could not be understood rationally and therefore that an argument that hinges upon reason (such as the wager) can never lead to true faith.
So when people say "if you only believe in God for a heavenly reward, that's not real faith" they are correct. But Pascal never claimed that it would anyway.
The other common counter argument is that there are thousands of possible religions. So the odds of the wager don't work out in your favor. Pascal forgot that other religions exist! Except he didn't - a considerable part of the Pensées (the book in which the wager appears) is dedicated to Pascal discussing why he thinks Christianity is the one true faith. You can disagree with his reasons for thinking so, but to claim that the wager itself doesn't work because of it, purposefully ignores the wider context of the book and presents Pascal as a naive shallow thinker who somehow overlooked the existence of other religions in a book about faith.
Ultimately, the wager is a pensée, a thought. A thought experiment meant to get you started on your religious journey. At least that's what Pascal intended. He laments that people don't think about the fate of their immortal soul at all, they just numbly go through life. But what is at stake in the afterlife, by necessity pales everything and anything that could ever happen in your earthly, finite, life.
Pascal's message is: start thinking about it. And the wager is meant to be a wake-up call for that.Understanding Dostoevsky’s Underground ManWeltgeist2024-05-13 | Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos: ▶ patreon.com/WeltgeistYT
In The Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche spends the entire final third of the book answering a single question: what is the meaning of ascetic ideals?
The ascetic ideal in Nietzsche's philosophy is the form that nihilism takes, it is that which promotes a movement away from the world, from the body, from the flesh, from our humanity. He sees this principle at work in every realm of human endeavor, from art to religion to philosophy and even modern science.
In this video we provide an overview of how the ascetic ideal - nihilism - finds its way into the artistic world through Wagner's Parsifal, into the religious domain through Christianity, in philosophy with Schopenhauer, and finally how even modern science, through Darwin and Copernicus and the like, provides a feeding ground for nihilism.The Coming Moral Crisis: Nietzsches WarningWeltgeist2024-03-29 | From our video: Why Nietzsche Hated English Philosophy
In The Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche spends the entire final third of the book answering a single question: what is the meaning of ascetic ideals?
The ascetic ideal in Nietzsche's philosophy is the form that nihilism takes, it is that which promotes a movement away from the world, from the body, from the flesh, from our humanity. He sees this principle at work in every realm of human endeavor, from art to religion to philosophy and even modern science.
In this video we provide an overview of how the ascetic ideal - nihilism - finds its way into the artistic world through Wagner's Parsifal, into the religious domain through Christianity, in philosophy with Schopenhauer, and finally how even modern science, through Darwin and Copernicus and the like, provides a feeding ground for nihilism.How to Escape Eternal Damnation (Dostoevsky)Weltgeist2024-02-25 | Head to squarespace.com/weltgeist to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code WELTGEIST
Music used: "Evening Fall - Harp", "Frozen Star", "Gnarling Situation" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0The Influence of Schopenhauers Essay on SynchronicityWeltgeist2024-02-21 | From our video: Why Quantum Physicists Loved Schopenhauer