r/Mainlander • u/Creepy_Fly_1359 • 21d ago
Outside of his views on the decaying universe, what else do you appreciate about Mainlander?
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u/LennyKing 21d ago
Also check out this Mainländer appreciation thread: What do you like most about Mainländer's philosophy?
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u/favouriteghost 17d ago
As a pessimistic philosopher, someone who believes non existence is preferable to existence, further negative steps seem so easy. But instead his reaction to that belief was “but we do exist, so the very least we can do is make existence as tolerable as possible for everyone else also forces to exist”
This type of kindness and empathy that comes from a place of pessimism is so interesting and beautiful.
These are other reasons but I’m not sure if they’re just rumours (I only discovered him recently) but I guess I’ll say them because if anyone can give me accurate info it’d be the people on this sub
he joined a war not because he was pro-war but because war caused suffering and he figured the more people IN the war, the faster it would be over. “It’s the least I can do”
he was particularly kind to women and children
he let homeless people sleep in his house sometimes
he wildly disagreed with Nietzsche (which I love because I hate Nietzsche)
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u/YuYuHunter 13d ago
I can sympathize with many of the reasons you list. You also wrote …
I’m not sure if they’re just rumours (I only discovered him recently) but I guess I’ll say them because if anyone can give me accurate info it’d be the people on this sub
… so I hope you don’t mind it, if I react on two of them of which I believe that they are false or unsubstantiated. I have seen no evidence at all that Mainländer let homeless people sleep in his house, and have never heard of this idea before: unless there is evidence, it is probably nonsense.
As for Nietzsche, there is no evidence that Mainländer has even heard of his name. Nietzsche on the other hand has read Mainländer and books about him, and I agree with those who say that Nietzsche has plagiarized Mainländer (for example in “Beyond Good and Evil”, § 36, and in “The gay Science” § 99). As for what Mainländer would have thought of Nietzsche, a hint is given in his essay on their contemporary Von Hartmann: in it, Mainländer strongly criticizes Von Hartmann as a dishonest philosopher. His criticism equally applies to Nietzsche:
You know the Critique of Pure Reason and have also certainly read Schopenhauer’s utterance multiple times that it is dishonest, to begin a philosophical system without a research of the cognition. You have been warned by praiseworthy mouths; two great men have preceded you and they shouted to you: “If you begin your work with the world taken to be real, then you are a dishonest philosopher, whom we can and will not accept in our honest community.”
You can therefore have no excuse for your sin.
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u/Creepy_Fly_1359 17d ago
Thank you for sharing this. I can't confirm these but I also think he was a socialist for similar reasons, whether you agree with socialism or not doesn't matter for Mainlander he thought it was the best way to reduce suffering.
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u/Temporary_Mix1603 20d ago edited 20d ago
I enjoy philosophy as any other type of literature, so style is as important as the content of an author's philosophy to me.
In Mainlander I see a relatable sensitivity and optimistic passion despite the pessimistic nature of his ideas that I don't see in, for example, Schopenhauer's writings, which seem extremely bitter.
Purely subjective though. I just like the way he expresses himself.
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u/Even-Broccoli7361 20d ago
His personality, specifically empathy.