Philipp Mainländer The Philosophy | Of Redemption

Mainländer’s view on reproduction is severe. Reproduction is the ultimate sin because it prolongs the agony of existence. It drags a new being out of the peace of non-existence into the suffering of life.

| Thinker | Key Concept | Relation to Mainländer | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | Will-to-live; denial via art/asceticism; Nirvana as quietism. | Predecessor/Rejected. Mainländer replaces the one Will with plural wills; substitutes asceticism with active annihilation. | | Nietzsche | Will-to-power; affirmation of eternal recurrence; amor fati . | Antithesis. Nietzsche read Mainländer and recoiled. He called him an “apostle of death” and likely developed his life-affirmation in direct opposition. | | Eduard von Hartmann | Philosophy of the Unconscious; collective redemption. | Contemporary rival. Both were pessimists, but Hartmann believed humanity would collectively will non-existence; Mainländer insisted on individual, conscious annihilation. | philipp mainländer the philosophy of redemption

Mainländer’s central axiom is: The world exists solely as a means to achieve non-being. The history of the universe is the history of a gradual transition from unity to multiplicity, and from complex life to inorganic death. Mainländer’s view on reproduction is severe

( Die Philosophie der Erlösung ), presents a cosmic myth that is as haunting as it is unique: the idea that the universe itself is the decaying remains of a God who committed suicide. 1. The Death of God (Literally) | Thinker | Key Concept | Relation to