NOTE This book was translated from the sixth edition of the German original by the late Professor George J. Tamson, lecturer in English at the University of Göttingen. The additions to the book in the seventh German edition, the explanation of Ibsen's "Ghosts" in Chapter XI and the whole of Chapter XII, were translated by Mrs. Elizabeth C. Deibel. The entire English version was then thoroughly revised by Mr. George F. Payn, reader to the Tauchnitz Edition in Leipzig, and editor of James's GermanEnglish dictionary, Professor F. Sefton Delmer, lecturer in English at the University of Berlin, and Mr. John A. Falconer of the English Seminary at the Hamburg Colonial Institute. In the following lectures it is the author's design to develop definite trains of thought as clearly as possible. This endeavour may be responsible for a certain amount of repetition by which means alone, however, it was possible to arrange the book so that each chapter should form a complete whole which may be read independently. I. ARTISTIC ENJOYMENT AND SCHOPENHAUER makes the statement that "genius is simply the completest objectivity, i. e., the objective tendency of the mind, as opposed to the subjective, which is directed to one's own self-in other words, to the" selfish "will." Goethe observes: "The first and last thing that is demanded of genius is love of truth." No one will deny that both Schopenhauer and Goethe are entitled to speak with some authority in this matter, for each of them was a genius of no mean order. How then do the statements of these two great men stand to each other? Is it objectivity or is it love of truth that forms the essential factor of genius? The question is not very difficult to answer; for objectivity and love of truth are merely two different expressions for one and the same attitude of mind. In order to be able to judge objectively, we must, to a certain extent, be above the thing to be judged. The longing to ascertain the actual facts, to sift what is true from what is untrue, must far outweigh any temptation to present the resultant facts in some particular form cor 1 The World as Will and Idea. Translated by R. B. Haldane & J. Kemp. 6th ed., 1907-9, vol. I, p. 240. 2 Criticisms, Reflections, and Maxims. Translated by W. B Rönnfeldt, p. 224. responding to a personal desire of our own. From the moment that we cease to be above the thing to be judged, we cease to judge objectively, and truth is to us no longer of any importance. From the moment we entertain the personal desire of seeing the matter in question reveal itself in some particular aspect, we cease to be unbiassed in the investigation, and, consciously or unconsciously, we are dishonest. Honesty, love of truth, and objectivity are therefore identical. Everyone who has a personal interest in a matter is, from the very outset, exposed to the suspicion of stating the case to his own advantage, and the stronger this personal interest is, the stronger will also be the tendency to look at the matter in a biassed, subjective way. The moment personal interest, subjectivity, and self-seeking enter the field, truth is put to flight. And just as self-seeking, subjectivity, and falsehood are kith and kin, so love, which is the antithesis of selfseeking, and objectivity, which is the pure, single-eyed interest in the thing itself, are akin to truth. If selfseeking makes one blind, and incapable of recognising truth, if the self-seeking man is at the same time the narrow-minded man, then on the other hand love makes a man clairvoyant, intuitive, a diviner of hidden things. The man who has an interest merely in the thing itself, who is impersonal, disinterested, loving, is the man whom truth rushes to meet of its own accord; the man who is impartial and just, who observes objectively, will thus at the same time be the man of genius; for we must agree with Schopenhauer, that "genius is simply the completest objectivity," and with Goethe, that "the first and last thing that is demanded of genius is love of truth." Now, as objectivity and love of truth are based on that tendency of the will which we call love, as opposed to self-seeking, we may say that the degree of love in a man is the measure of the genius he possesses, and that the degree of his self-seeking is the measure of his narrowmindedness. Other observations made by Goethe in his "Maxims and Reflections" still further confirm these views: "In art and knowledge, as also in deed and action, all depends upon the object's being clearly apprehended and treated in accordance with its nature."1 Again: "By ill-will and hatred a man's observation is limited to the surface of things, even though those qualities be accompanied by a keen perception. But if the latter goes hand in hand with good-will and love, it is able to penetrate into the heart of man and the world, and may even attain to the supreme goal." Later on: "The whole art of living consists in giving up our existence" - an existence selfseeking and confined to ourselves - "in order to exist,"3 that is, all the more truly and on a higher standard. Further, in "After Falconet and about Falconet": "What the artist has not loved, does not love, he should not depict, he cannot depict." Let us now attempt to gain a clear conception of the truth that love pervades and illumines all, and begin with the domain of æsthetics. The first requisite for the productivity of the artist is his enjoyment. The artist cannot produce, unless his mind has previously received the most manifold impressions. Goethe, who may in this respect also be taken as an authority, states: "It is sometimes said in praise of an artist that he has evolved everything out of himself. Would that I might never hear this again! Properly speaking, the productions of an original genius of that kind are composed for the most 1 Criticisms, Reflections, and Maxims, p. 163. 2 Id. pp. 175-6. 3 Id. p. 178. |