Schopenhauer on religious pessimism

Schopenhauer's bifurcation between optimistic and pessimistic religions is made, so I argue here, by means of five criteria: to perceive of existence as punishment, to believe that salvation is not attained through 'works', to preach compassion so as to lead towards ascetics, to manif...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal for philosophy of religion
Main Author: Auweele, Dennis vanden 1986- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 2015
In: International journal for philosophy of religion
Further subjects:B philosophy of religion
B Salvation
B Schopenhauer, Arthur, 1788-1860
B Pessimism
B Schopenhauer
B Compassion
B Religions
B Highest good
B Optimism
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Schopenhauer's bifurcation between optimistic and pessimistic religions is made, so I argue here, by means of five criteria: to perceive of existence as punishment, to believe that salvation is not attained through 'works', to preach compassion so as to lead towards ascetics, to manifest an aura of mystery around religious doctrines and to, at some deep level, admit to the allegorical nature of religious creeds. By clearly showing what makes up the 'pessimism' of a 'pessimistic religion', Schopenhauer's own philosophical pessimism can be clarified since he posits a strict correlation between the truth of (proper) philosophy and (pessimistic) religion. Accordingly, Schopenhauer's pessimism is by means of this process clarified as non-radical and providing a genuine 'highest good' that is more than absolute denial.
ISSN:1572-8684
Contains:Enthalten in: International journal for philosophy of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s11153-014-9479-9