New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-30

4, favor the compound. But Schopenhauer does not
.,n..r 10 have perceived that however spiritual an
nect he might give to his struggle against the VIII 10
NO.. the triumph Of that struggle could only end IN
docradatIon. For what the goal OF the highest
sn,,naI cndcator according to his systeml IL was
s;mnlS absorption into the world-wlll whence the
human will originally sprung This then was rctro-
resson not advance 1t was merely the surrender OF
conscious identity and rcvcrslon to the condition OF
Hind force Yet IL was all that he had TO Offer Had
no understood Buddhism fully he might have es-
capcd this antcllmax, although his primary idea OF
the World will must necessarily have stood In the way
Of any higher and more attractive doctrine.
II is curious that SchOpenhauer willing to accept
the sainship Of las in the Of st. Teresa)
and TO their testimony on behalf OF the genuine
ness of certain states Of spiritual exaltatio notwlt
standing the fact that he held the lowest opinion OF
them In this he oriental rather than Buddhist,
but he was so from nature, not from education lie
behaved as Professor Wallace says, that woman oc
cupled in Western Chrstcndom totally false POSITION
which was largely to blame for the restless struggles
Of civilization. Her life, eliminating in few years
sudden burst Of charms solely In the Interest OF the
sncces leaves her otherwise perpetual child needing
Guidance and tutcage, incapable OF being ruled except
by fear and hence a constant mine Of danger Moral
lty. strictly speaking, she has none; save an UNI
reasoned weakness for compassion Essentially I'M
inst all women, some openly, Others in secret hold
that what they call love emancipates from all moral
Obligation, all claims which established conventions
may have asserted to the contrary. The beauty WIN
which they are credited is unreal; as matter
OF fact they are, when c0olly Observed an ugly sex
and all their charms really an Illusion due TO
the potent spell of physiological attraction which
intelligence and reasoning p0werlcss to dis
sipatc That such a being as woman, devoid OF
all originality in art science, and literature, should in
the homogeneous systems Of Europe, be raised to
position of equality with man, If not of superiority,
Is TO Scopenhauer's mind serious mistake pregnant
with all those fatal consequences which the annals OF
wedlock persstcnty cxempllfy" Such views OF woman
are clearly altogether incompatible with any really
noble and lofty system Of thought, and in effect 1t
will be found that the parts Of Schopenauers writings
which seem to appeal to the higher emotions and
aspirations arc in logical sequences but
merely as IL were ornate and decorative rhetorical
devices essentially inconsistent with all that has gone
before and employed merely to give an air OF finish
and atractivenoss to an nnatey sordd and repuisve
speculation
The man to whom real love is unknown and unknow
able can often discourse eloquenty upon something nc
takes to be love- with such one 1t is word only,
and therefore the love Of a man for woman ana
the love of soul for the Absolute seem to nm
very much the thing though the last Is stfcty
speaking unthinkabe, while the first Is the handspring
of human life and human happiness IL is but another
instance Of the substitution Of morbid for healthy feel
ing the latter has been checked or perverue Sco
pcnhauer sitting in his bachelor den, could play with
the migest force the world, and calmly rule 1t out
Of existence and think to put in its place meta
physical abstraction because he had no understanding
of the force he was dealing with. His 5c,led plos
ophy is in truth no philosophy. 1t is the speculation
of a CycIop upon binoptcs, and nothing more. The
charms Of singuary fresh and popular style and Of
great ingenuity and opulcncc of Illustration have given
his principal work certain prominence, which has
further been up to by the recent developments In
Oriental knowledge and by the growth Of various forms
of pessimism incident the concentration Of attention
upon difficult and dscouragiEg social problems. But
schopenhauer can never become tho head OF serious
school, and the more he is known the less will he be
trusted.