Frederick C. Beiser - Philosophy of Life

Frederick C. Beiser focuses on Lebensphilosophie’s most prominent members: Friedrich Nietzsche, Wilhelm Dilthey, and Georg Simmel.Lebensphilosophieappeared at a critical movement in Western culture between 1870 and 1920; it was a response to several important cultural developments of the late 19th century: atheism, relativism, historicism and pessimism. TheLebensphilosophenbelieved that meaning of life had to be found in life itself and denied the relevance of any transcendent realm of meaning. To affirm the value of life, they reacted against Schopenhauer's pessimism; they proclaimed that the joys of life outweighed its sorrows, and that there is an infinite value in living life to its fullest. They developed a radical individualist ethic, which proclaimed the value of individual self-realization above all other goods. As part of this radical individualism, they disputed the existence of absolute moral values; and by insisting on the historicity of life, they affirmed the relativity of all values.
Our discussion will focus on why this philosophical movement arose and its manifestation through the writings of several thinkers. It will be contrasted and compared with prior philosophical movements as well as ones from the 20th and 21st centuries.
(The discussion will take place in English.)