The World As Will and Representation - Volume 2

Volume 2

The second volume consisted of several essays expanding topics covered in the first. Most important are his reflections on death and his theory on sexuality, which saw it as a manifestation of the whole will making sure that it will live on and depriving humans of their reason and sanity in their longing for their loved ones. While this has been much improved on since, his honesty on the subject is unusual for the time and the central role of sexuality in human life is now widely accepted. Less successful is his theory of genetics: he argued that humans inherit their will, and thus their character, from their fathers, but their intellect from their mothers and he provides examples from biographies of great figures to illustrate this theory. The second volume also contains what many readers view as attacks on contemporary philosophers such as Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel.

The contents of Volume II are as follows.

Supplements to the First Book

First Half

The Doctrine of the Representation of Perception Through § 1 – 7 of Volume I

I. On the Fundamental View of Idealism II. On the Doctrine of Knowledge of Perception or Knowledge of the Understanding III. On the Senses IV. On Knowledge a Priori

Second Half

The Doctrine of the Abstract Representation or of Thinking

V. On the Intellect Devoid of Reason VI. On the Doctrine of Abstract Knowledge, or Knowledge of Reason VII. On the Relation of Knowledge of Perception to Abstract Knowledge VIII. On the Theory of the Ludicrous IX. On Logic in General X. On the Science of Syllogisms XI. On Rhetoric XII. On the Doctrine of Science XIII. On the Methods of Mathematics XIV. On the Association of Ideas XV. On the Essential Imperfections of the Intellect XVI. On the Practical Use of Our Reason and on Stoicism XVII. On Man's Need for Metaphysics

Supplements to the Second Book

XVIII. On the Possibility of Knowing the Thing-in-Itself XIX. On the Primacy of the Will in Self-Consciousness XX. Objectification of the Will in the Animal Organism XXI. Retrospect and More General Consideration XXII. Objective View of the Intellect XXIII. On the objectification of the Will in Nature without Knowledge XXIV. On Matter XXV. Transcendent Considerations on the Will as Thing-in-Itself XXVI. On Teleology XXVII. On Instinct and Mechanical Tendency XXVIII. Characterization of the Will-to-Live

Supplements to the Third Book

XXIX. On Knowledge of the Ideas XXX. On the Pure Subject of Knowing XXXI. On Genius XXXII. On Madness XXXIII. Isolated Remarks on Natural Beauty XXXIV. On the Inner Nature of Art XXXV. On the Aesthetics of Architecture XXXVI. Isolated Remarks on the Aesthetics of the Plastic and Pictorial Arts XXXVII. On the Aesthetics of Poetry XXXVIII. On History XXXIX. On the Metaphysics of Music

Supplements to the Fourth Book

XL. Preface XLI. On Death and Its Relation to the Indestructibility of Our Inner nature XLII. Life of the Species XLIII. The Hereditary Nature of Qualities XLIV. The Metaphysics of Sexual Love Appendix to the Preceding Chapter XLV. On the Affirmation of the Will-to-Live XLVI. On the Vanity and Suffering of Life XLVII. On Ethics XLVIII. On the Doctrine of the Denial of the Will-to-Live XLIX. The Road to Salvation L. Epiphilosophy