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Eduard von Hartmann, Pessimism, and the Europeanization of Buddhism
ID Nelson, Eric S. (Author)

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Abstract
Eduard von Hartmann was one of the most influential public philosophers of his era, known primarily through his Philosophy of the Unconscious. A conservative nationalist in politics, he positioned himself as a cultural and religious reformer and modernist ad­vocate of a “religion of the future” of self-redemption (autosoterism), one that reconciled pessimism and a panpneumatic impersonal unconscious with rationality and individu­al responsibility. This paper traces how Buddhism served as a primary albeit imperfect exemplar in his thought, how his ethical and symbolic interpretative strategy, based on the unconscious, drew him into proximity and conflict with esoteric spiritist discourses, and how this context informed his Daodejing interpretation. German Idealism disclosed the unity of reason, will, and nature, while Buddhist teachings demonstrated the world’s fundamentally contradictory and illusory character through nothingness (emptiness), nir­vāṇa, and objective illusionism and phenomenalism. Hartmann’s secularized moral and symbolic adaptation of Buddhism entailed a resigned yet heroic embrace of suffering life rather than what he deemed ascetic and quietist acquiescence. His hermeneutics reveal his modernizing vision of Buddhism as an exemplary model (if suitably reformed to ac­centuate a heroic response to suffering and karma) for the future.

Language:English
Keywords:Buddhism, nihilism, panpsychism, pessimism, the unconscious
Work type:Article
Typology:1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:FF - Faculty of Arts
Publication status:Published
Publication version:Version of Record
Publication date:09.01.2026
Number of pages:Str. 375-396
Numbering:Vol. 14, no. 1
PID:20.500.12556/RUL-178349 This link opens in a new window
ISSN:2232-5131
eISSN:2350-4226
DOI:https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2026.14.1.375-396 This link opens in a new window
Publication date in RUL:23.01.2026
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Downloads:86
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Record is a part of a journal

Title:Asian studies
Publisher:Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
ISSN:2232-5131
COBISS.SI-ID:265206272 This link opens in a new window

Licences

License:CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Link:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Description:This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

Language:Slovenian
Title:Eduard von Hartmann, pesimizem in evropeizacija budizma
Abstract:
Eduard von Hartmann je bil eden najvplivnejših javnih filozofov svojega časa, znan pred-vsem po svojem delu Filozofija nezavednega. Četudi je bil v političnem pogledu konserv-ativni nacionalist, se je predstavljal kot kulturni in verski reformator ter modernistični zagovornik »religije prihodnosti« in samoodrešitve (avtosoterizma), ki naj bi povezala pesimizem ter panpnevmatistično brezosebno nezavedno z racionalnostjo in individualno odgovornostjo. Prispevek sledi vlogi, ki jo je v njegovem mišljenju igral budizem kot glavni, četudi nikakor ne popoln vzor. Avtor prikaže, na kakšen način je bila Hartman-nova etična in simbolna strategija interpretacij utemeljena na pojmu nezavednega ter kako se je približevala ezoteričnim duhovnim diskurzom in se hkrati od njih oddaljevala. Pojasnjuje, kako je ta kontekst vplival na njegovo razlago Daodejinga. Nemški idealizem je razkril enotnost razuma, volje in narave, medtem ko so budistični nauki pokazali, da je svet v svojem bistvu protisloven in iluzoren, kar se izraža skozi nič (praznino), nirva-no ter objektivni iluzionizem in fenomenalizem. Hartmannova sekularizirana moralna in simbolna priredba budizma je pomenila resignirano, toda junaško sprejetje trpečega življenja namesto tistega, kar je sam imel za asketsko in kvietistično vdajo. Njegova hermenevtika razkriva modernizirano vizijo budizma. V tem okviru pokaže, da lahko budizem postane vzorčni model za prihodnost, če je le ustrezno reformiran, da poudari junaški odziv na trpljenje in karmo.

Keywords:budizem, nihilizem, panpsihizem, pesimizem, nezavedno

Projects

Funder:RCUK - Research Council UK
Funding programme:RGC
Project number:HSSPFS 36000021

Funder:Other - Other funder or multiple funders
Funding programme:RGC
Project number:16600925

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