epoch:

the beginning of a distinctive period in the history of anything; for Spengler this is a reference to the changing of the season, from Culture to Civilization or from Autumn to Winter

 

history of philosophy:

Victor Cousins (1792-1867) was responsible for introducing the history of philosophy as a major discipline in higher schools in France.  His philosophy, "eclecticism," posited that the mind can accept all carefully thought-out & moderate interpretations of the world, no system false, merely incomplete.  He directed his students to study the history of philosophy & choose what is true from each thereby arriving at a complete philosophy.  He wrote 2 major works on this subject: Course of the History of Philosophy (1815 & 1841), and True, the Beautiful, and the Good (1836).

and see page 367 above

​

Shaw (and Nietzsche):

Both men share similar assumptions in the development of their thought; they both embrace atheism & a disbelief in the established social norms & both were social critics who attacked the establishment with their satire.  Shaw was 50 when Nietzsche died in 1900.  Soon after Nietzsche’s death he wrote Man and Superman (1903) a 4 act drama.  Shaw intended the drama to be a consideration of Nietzsche's philosophical ideas about the "Übermensch" & places Nietzsche on a long list of influences in the play's dedication.  The plot centres on John Tanner, author of "The Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion" (published with the play as a 58-page appendix).  Both play and "Handbook" reflect the theme that mankind is evolving, through natural selection.  Ann, the female protagonist, is referred to as "the Life Force".  The idea of evolution (in this case biological) towards a superman is lifted from Nietzsche, as is the Life Force which clearly reflects Nietzsche’s concept Will to Power.

 

Shaw (and Ibsen):

Ibsen was one of the 19th century’s premier playwrights & influenced many other later playwrights and novelists including Shaw.  Ibsen’s Realism in the theatre led Shaw to introduce his own realism into English-language drama, using his plays as vehicles to disseminate his political, social & religious ideas.  Shaw's first 3 full-length plays dealt with social issues.  Widower's Houses (1892) concerns the landlords of slum properties, and introduces the first of Shaw's New Women, a recurring feature of later plays and a theme Ibsen introduced in The Doll’s House (1879).  The Philanderer (1893) develops further the theme of the New Woman, drawing on Ibsen.  During WW I Shaw wrote only 1 full length play Heartbreak House (1917).  It depicts a cultured, leisured Europe before the war, drifting towards disaster.  Critics have found elements which clearly draw on Ibsen’s The Master Builder.  The influence of Ibsen is also apparent in Shaw as a theatre critic when writing for The Saturday Review (1895-98).  He reviewed some 212 productions & always championed Ibsen's plays even though they were regarded as outrageous.  His 1891 book Quintessence of Ibsenism was an extended analysis of the works of Ibsen and their critical reception in England.  His exposition of Ibsen serves as a vehicle to illustrate the many imperfections of British society.  Much of the piece involves to a discussion of Ibsen's recurring topic of the strong character holding out against social hypocrisy. 

 

Nietzsche (and materialism): * see Endnote<A>

Nietzsche held a materialist views.  His formulation (The Gay Science) that delusion and error are conditions of human knowledge and sensation and that this insight comes to us through science,” elevates science above metaphysics, a subject he rejected..  Most tellingly, in The Will to Power he developed perspectivism, a relativist view of reality which has close affinity with science.

 

Nietzsche (and Schopenhauer):

In 1865 Nietzsche (age 21) studied the works of Schopenhauer & owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading The World as Will & Representation; he admitted Schopenhauer was one of the few thinkers whom he respected, dedicating the essay "Schopenhauer as Educator" (1874) to him; this work describes how Schopenhauer might bring on a resurgence of German culture, approving Schopenhauer’s attention to individualism, honesty, steadfastness & cheerfulness.  Santayana claimed Nietzsche's whole philosophy was a reaction to Schopenhauer, an emendation of Schopenhauer.  The will to live became the will to dominate; pessimism founded on reflection became optimism founded on courage; the suspense of the will in contemplation would yield to a more biological account of intelligence & taste; in the place of pity and asceticism (Schopenhauer's 2 principles of morals) Nietzsche posited the duty of asserting the will at all costs and being cruelly but beautifully strong. 

 

Schopenhauer (and Kantian metaphysics): * see EndNote<B>

While Schopenhauer accepted the phenomenon & noumenon of Kant, he rejected Kant’s proof of these terms.  The latter relied on his a priori categories, which Schopenhauer & others disallowed.  Schopenhauer developed his own alternative, based on the Will.

 

Kant (world as appearance or phenomenon):

Kant’ transcendental idealism asserts that experience is based on the perception of external objects integrated with a priori knowledge.  The external world provides us with sensible objects; our mind processes these using the a priori categories (such as conditions of space, time, causality) & gives it order.  The phenomenon, or the thing appearing to view, is an observable fact or event.  The human mind is restricted to the logical world & can only interpret occurrences according to their physical appearances; humans could infer only as much as their senses allow & cannot experience the thing in itself.  Kant’s noumenon (thing in itself) is something that can only be the object of purely intellectual, non-sensuous intuition, they are objects independent of observation and beyond human observation.  The phenomenon is a sensible manifestation of the noumenon.  Kant was heavily influenced by Leibniz in which phenomenon and noumenon serve as interrelated technical terms.

 

Gehirnphanomen:

German, brain phenomena

 

The World as Will and Idea:

this appears to be a typographic error and should read “The World as Will and Representation”

see above page 366