The World as Will and Idea, Vol. I — Arthur Schopenhauer, trans. Haldane & Kemp

and the copy of it in any art, is the element of the artist. He is chained to the contemplation of the play, the objectification of will; he remains beside it, does not get tired of contemplating it and representing it in copies ; and meanwhile he bears himself the cost of the production of that play, i.e.^ he himself is the will which objectifies itself, and remains in constant suffering. That pure, true, and deep knowledge of the inner nature of the world becomes~now for him an end in itself; he stops there. Therefore it does not become to him a quieter of the will, ^ we shall seem the next booS, ^^oes in the case of the saint who has attained to resignation p^~do^ not deliver him for ever from life, but only at moments, and is therefore not for him a path out of Iife^Tiut only aSToccasional consolation in it, tilf his powSr^ increased by this cqntemplatinn and at last tired of tFe playTl^S hold on the real. The St Cecilia of Eaphael may be regarded as a representation of this transition. To the real, then, we now tumTa the following book.

jFourtl) Booft.

THE WORLD AS WILL

SECOND ASPECT.

HTB ASSERTION AND DENIAL OF THE WILL TO LIVE, WHEN SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS HAS BEEN ATTAINED.

Tempore quo cognitio simul advenit, amor e medio supersurrexit,— Oupnek^hatt Studio AnquetU Dupârron^ yoL ii, p. 216.

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IV.

§ 53* The last part of our work presents itself as the most serious, for it relates to the action of men, the matter which concerns every one directly and can be foreign or indifferent to none. It is indeed so characteristic of the nature of man to relate everything else to action, that in every systematic investigation he will always treat the part that has to do with action as the result or outcome of the whole work, so far, at least, as it interests him, and will therefore give his most serious attention to this part, even if to no other. In this respect the following part of our work would, in ordinary language, be called practical philosophy, in opposition to the theoretical, which has occupied us hitherto. But, in my opinion, all philosophy is theoretical, because it is essential to it tSat it sTidiiTd retain a purely ~cmi temH^- tive attitude, and should investigate, not prescribe. To become, on the conlraiy.^practi^l. to guide conduct, to transfom character, are old claims, which with fuller insight it ougHt'lSnallv to give up! t'or here, where the worth or worthlessness of an existence, where salyation or damnation are i^g^uestion, tlm dead wnc^tions of philosopEy”*^ not decide the matter, but the inmost

‘*‘_l , I I IIIK II l» IL nature of man himself, the Dsemon that guides him and that hasnot chosen him, but been chosen by him, as {"lato would say; intelligible clTaracter. asiKaS e^r^es himself. Virtue cannot be taught any more tEah gemus ; Inileed, for it the concept is just as unfruitful as it is in art, and in both cases can only be used as

p. 350

THE WORLD AS WILL.

me. IV.

an instrument. It would, therefore, be just as absurd to expect that our moral systems and ethics will produce virtuous, noble, and holy men, as that our aesthetics will induce' pdet8,~painter8, and musicians.

~~ Philosophy can never do more than interpret and explain what is given. It can only bring to distinct abstract knowledge of the reason the nature of the world which in the concrete, that is, as feeling, expresses itself comprehensibly to every one. This, however, it does in every possible reference and from every point of view. Now, as this attempt has been made from other points of view in the three preceding books with the generality that is proper to philosophy, in this book the action of men will be considered in the same way ; and this side of the world might, indeed, be considered the most important of all, not only subjectively, as I remarked above, but also objectively. In considering it I shall faithfully adhere to the method I have hitherto followed, and shall support myself by presupposing all that has already been advanced. There is, indeed, just one thought which forms the content of this whole work. I have endeavoured to work it out in all other spheres, and I shall now do so with regard to human action. I shall then have done all that is in my power to communicate it as fully as possible.