Paul Deussen as a Philosopher

Abstract

Paul Deussen (1845–1919) as a philosopher followed Arthur Schopenhauer and in his main philosophical work “The Elements of Metaphysics” developed the teaching of the universal Will that reveals itself in living beings as organs of the body and instincts and in human being – as personal will. Intellect is the highest form of the Will but it can free itself – temporarily in esthetic contemplation and totally in overcoming the Will by the Will itself. Deussen’s interest to the philosophy of Schopenhauer influenced his interests in Oriental studies. He analyzed Indian philosophy in comparison with the European one. He discovered nonrandom similarities between philosophical teachings formed in these cultures that, in his opinion, testified to the principal unity of laws of philosophical thought that do not depend on the cultural affiliation of a thinker. Basing on this, he put the problem of possibility and ways of comparative study of philosophy. In his interpretation of Indian philosophy he reproduced and developed the ideas of German Romanticists who searched new ways of cultural development beyond the sphere of Western civilization. Deussen’s interests in Indian philosophy were in fact the continuation of his general philosophical interests. But they are demanded also today inasmuch as philosophical comparative studies offer the challenge for that intercultural philosophy having as it is also religious dimension which was worked on by Paul Deussen as one among the earliest scholars.