16 January 2006

Schopenhauer's will

Quoted in The Recording Angel:

Therefore, if we refer the concept of force to that of will, we have in fact referred something more unknown to something infinitely better known, indeed to the one thing really known to us immediately and completely; and we have very greatly extended our knowledge.

...

Spinoza says that if a stone projected through the air had consciousness, it would imagine it was flying of its own will. I add merely that the stone would be right.

Evan Eisenberg, the author, replies shortly after:

Why are we moved at the sight of a fountain, at the water's yearning rise and dying fall? ... The fountain moves us not because it reminds us of how we sometimes feel, but because we know just how it feels.
[ posted by sstrader on 16 January 2006 at 11:34:12 PM in Language & Literature ]