Frederick Copleston on Schopenhauer: Section 5

[memoryburn7]

i think copleston has a brain tumor or something. maybe speaking just isn't his forte?

[oknarbtal]

I juts love the way they have confronted opinions.

Very informative and inspiring show. Although, I think that they should have talked more on Schopenhauer's view on freedom of the Will. I guess, there was not enough time provided, seems like Magee would've never stopped.

[mach1man22]

His predecessors listed in order of the video: Genius, idiot, genius.

[TheBestInterest]

Did anyone else find Copleston's dislike of Schopenhauer to be glaringly obvious?

[4455matthew]

@TheBestInterest very much so, I also sensed a tension from copleston towards magee, which almost seemed to grow from magee's superb perspicuous analysis of schopenhauer's thought, as opposed to his own mumbled attempts. earlier copleton also almost seemed to use kant as a buttress against schopenhauers thought; an area in which, for the entirety of the interview, he never did seem very comfortable with.

[thejimshow4000]

I love this series, but I'm somewhat disappointed to see that many of Magee's guests do not share his enthusiasm during the show. Copleston, Passmore, Burnyeat, and a few others, look rather bored during their interviews.

[MitchelWeaver]

The more I learn about Schopenhauer, the more I feel that he understood everything very, very well, and that his understanding came largely from introspective experiences rather than just thought.

[DrDeist]

Thanks to flame0430 for posting this wonderful program and congrats to the 9762 who have seen it through (& boos to the 29,000 + who dropped out).

[fasterthaninstant]

Good grief, how irritating is Copleston !

[DrDeist]

@fasterthaninstant : Maybe a little, but content trumps style. Copleston's contribution to the dialogue is 1st class.

[tristramshandy3]

Thanks for sharing this video.

[Pittounikos]

The BBC's 'In Our Time' prog on rad4 the other week had an hour prog on Schopenhauer. "About time",I thought. Alas It was bad.The 3prof's didn't seem to know much about schop. The Oxford prof, A. C Grayling, was wheeld out, yet again. He's a nice guy but not exacty an authority and nowr near as fluent as Cop+Magee. Its amazin how much Copl+ Magee mangd 2 covr in such a short time. We wont c their likes again.They say d BBC has dumbed down.Compare the magee talk with the rad4 podcast 2 see why

[cosmicelore]

You will never find a public intellectual stupider than A.C. Grayling, and I'm a philo. major who read his books and articles

[Pittounikos]

Thank you for that reshoring comment. I thought I was going mad, now I know that there are at least two of us.

[rataretrodos]

thank you for the digestion on Schopenhauer

[archdeaconj]

Yes, Wittgenstein follows Schopenhauer in making a distinction between the metaphysical 'I' and the 'I' of (mere) psychology. The metaphysical 'I' cannot be transcended: it is the limit of my world not a part of my world. And MY world is always THE world. It is only a world qualified by a personal adjective for others.  Here, what Wittgenstein is trying to say cannot get properly into language (because there cannot be shared meaning). Hence the ineffability in the Tractatus.

[ManilaSyndicate]

Interesting when Magee let Copleston speak the latter had much to say. Magee's overenthusiasm to show off made this the least appealing episode of the series.

[t0kt0k]

Hahah what a weird ending

[ejgiv]

Another man strongly influenced by Schopenhauer was Otto Weininger (Geschlecht und Charakter, 1903) who in turn had significant influence on St. Wittgenstein himself.

[Untouchables155]

thanks...truly a resplendant piece!

[simonforman01]

Just to add my thanks for posting these shows.

[popnorth]

thanks for the upload flame0430 your uploading of this series on tv have been enlightening. magee is certainly a great educator and the internet a perfect medium for communication of ideas. how would it be to hear copplestone and russell battling it out in 1948. will the internet archive everything do you think?

[tybaltyrant]

good old magee. wish i'd had him as a lecturer.

thanks for uploading!!!

[Zadokor]

Magee was more enlightening on Schopenhauer than Copleston.

[JimmySmers]

I agree with Magee that Schopenhauer should have used the word "energy" instead of "will"

[archdeaconj]

I cannot see how 'energy' is a better term than 'will'. I agree that Schopenhauer's insights prefigered the findings of modern physics in an amazing way. Yet energy belongs clearly to the world of phenomena. It is precisely quantifiable, using scientific instruments and so on. Yet what underlies it, what manifests as energy, scientists have no idea. Einstein talked of something mysterious and utterly unknown MANIFESTING as both mass and energy. This is what S. identifies as WILL.

[cosmicelore]

Yes I also disagree with McGee's substitution of energy for will, Will for Schopenhauer is the noumenon much like our eyes which are used for seeing but it cannot see itself, energy on the other hand is quantifiable and measurable so it still belongs to phenomenon, not noumenon,

[Pittounikos]

But imagine if Freud used the word 'elbow' to denote consciousness. Do you see how confusing it could be? Long live the Will

[archdeaconj]

Yes, I agree. Will is noumenal. Will can no more observe itself than an eye can see itself. I can never catch myself in an act of will. Always I am one step behind. Only when the moment has passed can I observe the effects, as it were, in the phenomenal world. I can make a decision, choose a course of action, entertain a thought, but I cannot ever observe myself doing so. We can never reflect on act of willing at the moment of willing. We cannot know the noumenon but we can experience it.

[eydos]

I think instinct would have been good as well.

[deutscharsch]

@Zadokor 

[omariam05]

thank you very much for posting these informative videos. do you have similar videos by any chance about Hume, Kant, Nietzsche or Heidegger

[ontlt]

I've read all of Copleston's history of philosophy, 10 volumes, that is. It took me many years of slow study, but I did it. Priceless work! These videos are also very good!

[mal4mac]

I've read "Confessions of a Philosopher" by Bryan Magee. Took about a month. Priceless work! And he's not in league with the Vatican!

[archdeaconj]

I read 'Confessions of a Philosopher' many years ago. His solipsistic (or quasi-solipsistic) anxieties at age 13 (if I recall) which he describes at the beginning of the book are redolent of my own and may be more common than we imagine among philosophers.

[ssssaintmarcus]

@ontlt Ten? I thought it was nine? I must've missed one i guess lol

[portoxali]

Great interview! These cycles of magee documentaries are real treasure for us! Thanks again

[GordonMorrice]

Magee's book on Schopenhauer is a masterpiece of commentary. He explains Kant and Schopenhauer in a clear and enthralling way. His autobiography, "Confessions of a Philosopher" is also a masterpiece of personal storytelling and exposition of ideas of a man who lived an authentic life.

Immense thanks, flame! Get the Nietzsche programme up soon, please!