Biblioteca Digital

Contents

	Essa rara coisa que somos, numerosa e una
	José Eduardo Reis
	File (.pdf)
	Abstract Epitomizing the German idealist school of philosophy, Schopenhauer's theory of knowledge of the world as "Representation" is articulated with his ontological view of the world as "Will". The lasting and broad influence of Schopenhauer's philosophical and conceptual "hardware", most particularly in the field of aesthetics, is acknowledged by, among many others, Jorge Luis Borges. This legacy didn't take the form of a programmatic influence, a resetting of poetic precepts, but rather emerged in his literary re-creation of some of the basic concepts of Schopenhauer's philosophy – in Borges's words the only one that allowed him to "catch a glimpse of the universe". In our essay we trace Schopenhauer's argument that led him to identify the Kantian concept of the unknowable "thing in itself" as the essential will to live, common to every being. We then apply the hermeneutical potentialities of that argument to the reading of two of Borges's short stories. We particularly focus on Schopenhauer's thesis of the intrinsic dissention of the one Will in its cyclical and endless fighting manifestations, crediting it with the capacity to model the narrative themes of both human "duels" and their tragic yet essentially illusory nature.
Voltar

Last Update: 2013-05-18