The purpose of this research is to examine Arthur Schopenhauer's views on music. The plan of the research will be to set forth in general terms the philosophical-aesthetic temperament of Schopenhauer in the scheme of his concepts of will and idea, and then to discuss in particular his views of music. In particular, the manner in which he connects the metaphysical enterprise (and his philosophical method) regarding human experience to the form and content of music will be analyzed, with a view toward showing how his conception of music is connected with a conception of an innate and universal language.
To appreciate Schopenhauer's views on music, it is useful to appreciate something about his philosophical views more generally. The philosophical themes that recur in his work revolve around the concepts of will and idea. Schopenhauer assigns the term will to the "only real, metaphysical cosmic being . . . which comprises both mental acts of the human individual and the drive, urge or instinctive force of the entire organic world." Dagobert Runes, "Arthur Schopenhauer," Treasury of Philosophy (New York: Philosophical Library, 1955), 1085.
Idea is associated with the the universal subjective experience of human affections, so that all phenomenal reality is subject to human experience: "All that in any way belongs or can belong to the world is inevitably thus conditioned through the subject, and exists only for the subject. The world is idea." Arthur Schopenhauer, "Will and Idea," in Treasury of Philosophy, ed. Dagobert Runes (New York: Philosophical Library, 1955), 1086.
Only will, or objective reality in the cosmic sense, is not subject to idea. Both will and idea can be compared to ideal forms or essence, the former because objective reality, which Schopenhauer describes as the thing-in-itself, is what remains when individual instances of forms are taken away; and the latter because idea, as the result of subjective experienc...