Illusion and individuation in the Orientalisms of Arthur Schopenhauer and Karoline von Günderrode

Abstract

AbstractThe present article demonstrates the philosophical gains Arthur Schopenhauer and Karoline von Günderrode derive from the Western conceptions of individuation they read into Indian thought. Schopenhauer represents much of 19th‐century German Orientalism—including that of Herder and Friedrich Schlegel—insofar as his Idealism focuses upon Indian “antirealism” or the view that contrasts the unreality of finitude with a higher, ultimate reality. In particular, he subsumes all individuated forms—including individual subjectivity—under the Indian concept māyā, or “illusion” as understood by the Hindu school Advaita. Günderrode, on the contrary, privileges the Indian concept of saṃsāra, or cyclical reincarnation, which in her understanding exemplifies a then uncommon interpretation of Indian thought as “realist,” or committed to the truth of appearances and the value of finitude. With regard to Hindu belief, Günderrode's conception of individuation as participation in reality therefore resonates with the materialist school of Hinduism Vaiśeṣika, as well as Advaita's directly competing school, Viśiṣṭādvaita.