Abstract
Philipp Mainländer (born Philipp Batz) was a German philosopher who shortly after receiving the first copies of his magnum opus hanged himself at the age of 34. With his suicide, the young pessimistic thinker consummated his philosophical system, through an act of ontological congruence, obtaining the “redemption” of his existence. This pessimistic writer postulated a peculiar cosmogony: at the beginning of wholeness, there was a lonely God (a simple unity) who—jaded by Existence and wishing for nothingness—committed a cosmic “suicide.” Through this first act (the death of God) arose the universe, condemned to die and redeem existence, achieving the nothingness. According to his cosmovision, some suicides (enlightened by The Philosophy of Redemption) are directed to satiate the essential will to die (Wille zum Tode); however, his philosophy is not a call to suicide, generally speaking. Among the published and unpublished works of Mainländer, it is possible to identify signs for his eventual suicide. To demonstrate these signs, I will examine various texts from the author: first, his main philosophical work Die Philosophie der Erlösung, and secondly, his nonphilosophical poetic, literary, and autobiographical writings in which the shadow of voluntary death is consistent. Through this research, Mainländer’s personal suicide is understood within his philosophical system as an ontological need, in search of “redemption.”
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
It should be noted that the meaning of “the death of God” developed by Mainländer is totally different from the meaning that Nietzsche would later give to it in §125 of Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (The Gay Science) (2006, pp. 90–91).
- 2.
The author understands the immanent in his system as that mandate which limits the subject matter and limits his philosophy to within the epistemological boundaries of the world. Also, he understands his idealism in the sense of starting his analysis from the cognizing subject, considering the external as his representation.
- 3.
Mainländer details the process of weakening of each state of matter in §8 of his metaphysics (1996a).
- 4.
This concept must be understood as that metaphysical essence, the noumenon behind the phenomenon.
- 5.
Because if the individual left descendants, he preserves the chain of transmission of his individual will, so that death only affects him relatively (Gajardo Jaña, 2018).
- 6.
An example of this combination of individual character and Mainländerian philosophy can be found in the case of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa suicide, who was influenced by his reading of The Philosophy of Redemption, increasing his confused anguish and thoughts on death. See Chap. 17, “The Confusing Anxiety of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa,” specifically part 4, “The Farewell,” in this book.
- 7.
I would like to thank Joseph Mertes—whom I met at the presentation of this work at the conference I want to die—for his help in improving the translation of my chapter.
References
Baquedano, S. (2021). Estudio preliminar. ¿Por qué leer a Mainländer? [Preliminary study. Why read Mainländer?]. In P. Mainländer (Ed.), La filosofía de la redención [Philosophy of redemption] (pp. 13–60). Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Beiser, F. (2016). Weltschermerz: Pessimism in German philosophy 1860–1900. Oxford University Press.
Bolea, S. (2021a). Toward the ‘never-born’. Mainländer and Cioran. Revue Roumaine de Philosophie, 65(1), 145–155.
Bolea, S. (2021b). The will to life in death. Academia Letters, 1–4.
Ciracì, F. (2006). Verso l’assoluto nulla. La Filosofía della redenzione di Philipp Mainländer [Toward absolute nothingness. Philipp Mainländer’s Philosophy of redemption]. Pensa Multimedia.
Gajardo Jaña, P. (2018). La supresión de sí como actitud nihilista en Mainländer y Cioran [Self-suppression as a nihilistic attitude in Mainländer and Cioran]. Bachelor thesis, University of Chile.
Gardner, S. (2020). Post-Schopenhauerian metaphysics: Hartmann, Mainländer, Bahnsen, and Nietzsche. In R. L. Wicks (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of Schopenhauer (pp. 455–478). Oxford University Press.
Große, J. (2008). Philosophie der Langeweile [Philosophy of boredom]. J. B. Metzler.
Hoell, J. (1999). Nachwort [Postface]. In P. Mainländer (Ed.), Schriften. Band 4 [Writings. Vol. 4] (pp. 461–467). Georg Olms Verlag.
Invernizzi, G. (1994). Il pessimismo tedesco dell’Ottocento. Schopenhauer, Hartmann, Bahnsen e Mainländer e i loro avversari [19th-century German pessimism. Schopenhauer, Hartmann, Bahnsen, and Mainländer and their opponents]. La Nouva Italia.
Külpe, O. (1910). Einleintung in die Philosophie [Introduction to philosophy]. Verlag von S. Hirzel.
Ligotti, T. (2011). The conspiracy against the human race. Hippocampus Press.
Mainländer, P. (1925). Meine Soldatengeschichte [My soldier story]. Georg Stilke.
Mainländer, P. (1996a). Die Philosophie der Erlösung I [Philosophy of redemption I]. Georg Olms Verlag.
Mainländer, P. (1996b). Die Philosophie der Erlösung II [Philosophy of redemption II]. Georg Olms Verlag.
Mainländer, P. (1999a). Aus dem Tagebuch eines Dichters [From the diary of a poet]. In Schriften. Band 4 [Writings. Vol. 4] (pp. 189–229). Georg Olms Verlag.
Mainländer, P. (1999b). Rupertine del Fino. In Schriften. Band 4 [Writings. Vol. 4] (pp. 231–309). Georg Olms Verlag.
Nietzsche, F. (2006). The gay science. Dover Publications.
Pérez, M. (2015). Introducción. Dolor sereno: las poesías de Philipp Mainländer en su contexto biográfico y filosófico [Introduction. Serene sorrow: The poems of Philipp Mainländer in his biographical and philosophical context]. In P. Mainländer (Ed.), Diario de un poeta [From the diary of a poet] (pp. 11–26). Plaza y Valdés.
Rauschenberger, W. (1912). Los últimos momentos de la vida de Philipp Mainländer (según cartas inéditas y notas del filósofo) [The last moments of Philipp Mainländer’s life (according to unpublished letters and notes from the philosopher)]. Süddeutsche Monatshefte, 9, 117–131.
Schopenhauer, A. (2000). Parerga and Paralipómena II. Oxford University Press.
Schopenhauer, A. (2010). The world as will and representation I. Cambridge University Press.
Seiling, M. (1888). Mainländer, ein neuer Messias. Eine frohe Botschaftinmitten der herrschenden Geistesverwirrung [Mainländer, a new messiah. Good news in the middle of the prevailing spiritual confusion]. Theodor Ackermann.
Sommerlad, F. (2019). Vida de Philipp Mainländer. Datos tomados de la “autobiografía” manuscrita [Life of Philipp Mainländer. Information taken from the handwritten “autobiography”]. In O. F. Burgos (Ed.), Philipp Mainländer. Actualidad de su pensamiento [Philipp Mainländer. Actuality of his thought] (pp.153–180). Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero.
Volpi, F. (1999). Il nichilismo [The nihilism]. Editori Laterza.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gajardo Jaña, P.H. (2023). The Ontological Suicide of Philipp Mainländer: A Search for Redemption Through Nothingness. In: Ros Velasco, J. (eds) The Contemporary Writer and Their Suicide. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28982-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28982-8_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-28981-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-28982-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)