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THE
PHILOSOPHY OF
THE UNCONSCIOUS (Volume II)
by Eduard
von HARTMANN
THIS VOLUME :
In the present volume Hartmann's
focus is not essentially upon the Physics of the Unconscious,
as it was in the first (where he explored many physical and mental
aspects of numerous species) but rather upon the Metaphysics
of the Unconscious in Plants, Animals and Human Beings. Here
the author takes us on a journey to the origins of Consciousness,
even of Life itself. - Topics of great interest in this volume
are: The Unconscious Psychical Activity of Plants, Matter as
Will and Idea, The Conception of Individuality, the Resuscitation
of Life in seemingly "dead" animals (of particular
interest to students of Cryogenics). However, amid the plethora
of biological observations and early "biogenetic considerations",
through his discussions of suspended animation and spontaneous
generation, von Hartmann does not lose track of his philosophical
polemic, which progresses slowly but surely toward his final
conclusions in this volume concerning God, the Universe and the
Unconscious. In fact, he goes so far as to identify "God"
with his own conception of the "Unconscious", and this
is crucial to his argument in the final section of the book,
entitled "The Supreme Wisdom of the Unconscious and the
Perfection of the World", where he relates his views to
those of Leibniz, concluding, in his own way, that this is the
best of all "possible worlds", though we will need
to progress to Volume III so as to see where the argument leads.
A CHANGE :
A change from the Coupland edition
is the point at which Volume I and II are divided from each other.
Instead of breaking off Volume I with the two sections of 'The
Unconscious in the Human Mind ' still outstanding, and placing
these at the start of Volume TII, these two sections have now
been incorporated into Volume One as they fit there best. Thus
Volume II is entirely devoted to the 'Metaphysics of the Unconscious
', which is straightforward.
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