Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General editor's preface
- Editorial notes and references
- Introduction
- Notes on text and translation
- Chronology
- Bibliography
- PARERGA AND PARALIPOMENA, VOLUME 2
- Contents
- Sporadic yet systematically ordered thoughts on multifarious topics
- Chapter 1 On philosophy and its method
- Chapter 2 On logic and dialectic
- Chapter 3 Some thoughts concerning the intellect in general and in every respect
- Chapter 4 Some observations on the antithesis of the thing in itself and appearance
- Chapter 5 Some words on pantheism
- Chapter 6 On philosophy and natural science
- Chapter 7 On colour theory
- Chapter 8 On ethics
- Chapter 9 On jurisprudence and politics
- Chapter 10 On the doctrine of the indestructibility of our true essence by death
- Chapter 11 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the nothingness of existence
- Chapter 12 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the suffering of the world
- Chapter 13 On suicide
- Chapter 14 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the affirmation and negation of the will to life
- Chapter 15 On religion
- Chapter 16 Some remarks on Sanskrit literature
- Chapter 17 Some archaeological observations
- Chapter 18 Some mythological observations
- Chapter 19 On the metaphysics of the beautiful and aesthetics
- Chapter 20 On judgement, criticism, approbation and fame
- Chapter 21 On learning and the learned
- Chapter 22 Thinking for oneself
- Chapter 23 On writing and style
- Chapter 24 On reading and books
- Chapter 25 On language and words
- Chapter 26 Psychological remarks
- Chapter 27 On women
- Chapter 28 On education
- Chapter 29 On physiognomy
- Chapter 30 On noise and sounds
- Chapter 31 Similes, parables and fables
- Some verses
- Versions of Schopenhauer's text
- Glossary of names
- Index
Chapter 31 - Similes, parables and fables
from PARERGA AND PARALIPOMENA, VOLUME 2
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General editor's preface
- Editorial notes and references
- Introduction
- Notes on text and translation
- Chronology
- Bibliography
- PARERGA AND PARALIPOMENA, VOLUME 2
- Contents
- Sporadic yet systematically ordered thoughts on multifarious topics
- Chapter 1 On philosophy and its method
- Chapter 2 On logic and dialectic
- Chapter 3 Some thoughts concerning the intellect in general and in every respect
- Chapter 4 Some observations on the antithesis of the thing in itself and appearance
- Chapter 5 Some words on pantheism
- Chapter 6 On philosophy and natural science
- Chapter 7 On colour theory
- Chapter 8 On ethics
- Chapter 9 On jurisprudence and politics
- Chapter 10 On the doctrine of the indestructibility of our true essence by death
- Chapter 11 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the nothingness of existence
- Chapter 12 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the suffering of the world
- Chapter 13 On suicide
- Chapter 14 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the affirmation and negation of the will to life
- Chapter 15 On religion
- Chapter 16 Some remarks on Sanskrit literature
- Chapter 17 Some archaeological observations
- Chapter 18 Some mythological observations
- Chapter 19 On the metaphysics of the beautiful and aesthetics
- Chapter 20 On judgement, criticism, approbation and fame
- Chapter 21 On learning and the learned
- Chapter 22 Thinking for oneself
- Chapter 23 On writing and style
- Chapter 24 On reading and books
- Chapter 25 On language and words
- Chapter 26 Psychological remarks
- Chapter 27 On women
- Chapter 28 On education
- Chapter 29 On physiognomy
- Chapter 30 On noise and sounds
- Chapter 31 Similes, parables and fables
- Some verses
- Versions of Schopenhauer's text
- Glossary of names
- Index
Summary
§379
The concave mirror can be used for many kinds of similes, for instance, it can be compared to genius, as occurred above in passing, inasmuch as it too concentrates its powers on one spot in order to project a deceptive but embellished image of things, or generally to amass light and warmth to astonishing effects, like the mirror. The elegant polyhistor, on the other hand, resembles a convex diffusing mirror which simultaneously displays just beneath its surface all objects and even a miniaturized image of the sun, projecting them in all directions at everyone, whereas the concave mirror works only in one direction and demands a specific position of the viewer.
Secondly, every genuine artwork can also be compared to the concave mirror insofar as what it really communicates is not its own tangible self, its empirical content, but instead something lying outside of it which cannot be grasped with the hands, and which can only be pursued by the imagination as the real but elusive spirit of the thing. For more on this see my main work, chapter 34 of the second volume.
Finally a hopeless lover can also epigrammatically compare his cruel beloved to a concave mirror, which like her shines, enflames and consumes, all the while remaining cold itself.
§380
Switzerland resembles a genius: beautiful and sublime, yet poorly suited to bear nourishing fruit. On the other hand Pomerania and the marshlands of Holstein are exceedingly fertile and nourishing, but flat and boring like the useful philistine.
§380a
I stood before a gap trampled into a ripening cornfield by a careless foot. There I saw between the countless identical, perfectly straight stalks heavily laden with ears a great variety of blue, red and violet flowers which were extremely beautiful to look at in their naturalness and with their foliage. But, I thought to myself, they are useless, unproductive and really mere weeds which are tolerated here because they cannot be got rid of. Yet it is they alone that lend beauty and charm to this sight. Thus in every respect their role is the same as that played by poetry and the fine arts in serious, useful and productive civil life, which is why they can be regarded as its symbol.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Schopenhauer: Parerga and ParalipomenaShort Philosophical Essays, pp. 579 - 585Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015