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{{Short description|German philosopher (1842–1906)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| name = Eduard von Hartmann
| image = Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann (Photographic portrait).jpg
| caption = Von Hartmann in 1885
| birth_name = Karl Robert Eduard Hartmann
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1842|2|23}}
| birth_place = [[Berlin]], [[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[German Confederation]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1906|6|5|1842|2|23}}
| death_place = [[Groß-Lichterfelde]], [[Berlin]], [[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[German Empire|Germany]]
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Agnes Taubert]]|1872|1877|end=d.}}
* {{marriage|Alma Lorenz|1878}}
}}
| children = 6
| family = [[:de:Robert von Hartmann|Robert von Hartmann]] (father)
| education = {{Plainlist|
* [[United Artillery and Engineering School]]
* [[University of Rostock]] (Ph.D., 1867)
}}
| occupation = Philosopher, independent scholar, writer
| notable_works = ''[[Philosophy of the Unconscious]]'' (1869)
| signature = Signature of Eduard von Hartmann.svg
| signature_size = 250px
| era = [[19th-century philosophy]]
| region = [[Western philosophy]]
| school_tradition = {{Plainlist|
* [[Post-Kantian philosophy]]<ref>Peter Howarth, ''British Poetry in the Age of Modernism'', Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 163.</ref>
* [[Transcendental realism (Schopenhauer)|Transcendental realism]]<ref>[[Frederick C. Beiser|Beiser, Frederick C.]], ''Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 147.</ref>
* [[Metaphysical voluntarism]]
* [[Post-Schopenhauerian pessimism]]
* [[Pantheism]]
* [[Irrationalism]]
}}
| main_interests = {{Hlist|
| [[Aesthetics]]
| [[Epistemology]]
| [[Metaphysics]]
| [[Psychology]]
}}
| notable_ideas = {{Plainlist|
* Theory of [[Unconscious mind|the U
unconscious]] ([[reason]] and [[Will (philosophy)|will]] as irreducible to each other)
* [[Philosophical pessimism|Pessimistic]] interpretation of the "[[best of all possible worlds]]" theory
}}
| module = {{Infobox military person
| embed = yes
| allegiance = [[Prussia]]
| branch = [[Prussian Army]]
| rank = [[First lieutenant]]
}}

}}

'''Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann''' (23 February 1842 – 5 June 1906) was a German [[philosopher]], [[independent scholar]] and writer. He was the author of the influential ''[[Philosophy of the Unconscious]]'' (1869). von Hartmann's notable ideas include the theory of [[Unconscious mind|the Unconscious]] and a [[Philosophical pessimism|pessimistic]] interpretation of the "[[best of all possible worlds]]" concept in metaphysics.

==Biography==

=== Early life and military career ===
Von Hartmann was born in [[Berlin]], the son of [[Prussia]]n Major General [[:de:Robert von Hartmann|Robert von Hartmann]], and was educated with the intention of him pursuing a military career. In 1858 he entered the Guards Artillery Regiment of the [[Prussian Army]] and attended the [[United Artillery and Engineering School]]. He achieved the rank of first lieutenant but took leave from the army in 1865 due to a chronic knee problem.<ref name="Darnoi 1967" />

=== Philosophical career ===
After some hesitation between pursuing music or philosophy, he decided to make the latter his profession, and in 1867 earned his Ph.D. from the [[University of Rostock]]. In 1868 he formally resigned from the army.<ref name="Darnoi 1967">{{Cite book|last=Darnoi|first=Dennis N. Kenedy|url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-011-9568-3|title=The Unconscious and Eduard von Hartmann: A Historico-Critical Monograph|publisher=Springer|year=1967|isbn=978-94-011-9568-3|location=Dordrecht|pages=10–20|chapter=Von Hartmann's Life. His Relation to Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel and Schelling|doi=10.1007/978-94-011-9568-3|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-011-9568-3_2}}</ref> After the great success of his first work ''[[Philosophy of the Unconscious]]'' (1869)—the publication of which led to von Hartmann being embroiled in the [[pessimism controversy]] in Germany<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beiser|first=Frederick C.|title=After Hegel|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-691-16309-3|location=Princeton, New Jersey|language=en|chapter=The Pessimism Controversy|doi=10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.001.0001|author-link=Frederick C. Beiser|chapter-url=https://www.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.001.0001/upso-9780691163093-chapter-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Beiser|first=Frederick C.|url=http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198768715.001.0001/acprof-9780198768715|title=Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860–1900|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|isbn=9780198768715|location=Oxford|chapter=The Pessimism Controversy, 1870–1890|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198768715.001.0001|chapter-url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198768715.001.0001/acprof-9780198768715-chapter-9}}</ref>—he rejected professorships offered to him by the universities of [[Leipzig University|Leipzig]], [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]] and [[University of Berlin|Berlin]].<ref name="Darnoi 1967" />

He subsequently returned to Berlin.<ref name="Cambridge University Press 1911">{{EB1911|wstitle=Hartmann, Karl Robert Eduard von |inline=1|volume=13|page=36}}</ref> For many years, he lived a retired life of study as an [[independent scholar]],<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920">{{Americana|wstitle=Hartmann, Karl Robert Edouard von|author=Grace Neal Dolson|inline=1}}</ref> doing most of his work in bed, while suffering great pain.<ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Hartmann, Karl Robert Eduard von|year=1905}}</ref>

=== Personal life and death ===
von Hartmann married [[Agnes Taubert]] (1844–1877) on 3 July 1872 in [[Charlottenburg]]. After her death, he married Alma Lorenz (1854–1931) on 4 November 1878 in [[Bremen]]. The marriages produced six children.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/periodical/pageview/1198551|title=Digitale Sammlungen / Gothaisches genealogisches... [284]|website=digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de|access-date=2019-09-11}}</ref>

von Hartmann died at [[Groß-Lichterfelde]] on 5 June 1906<ref name="Cambridge University Press 1911" /> and is buried in an honorary grave in the [[:de:Friedhof Columbiadamm|Columbiadamm Cemetery]] in Berlin.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eduard von Hartmann|url=https://meiner.de/autoren/eduard-von-hartmann-a01|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-08|website=Felix Meiner Verlag|language=de|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730100933/https://meiner.de/autoren/eduard-von-hartmann-a01 |archive-date=30 July 2020 }}</ref>

==Philosophical work==
His reputation as a philosopher was established by his first book, ''Philosophy of the Unconscious'' (1869; 10th edition 1890). This success was largely due to the originality of its title, the diversity of its contents (von Hartmann professing to obtain his speculative results by the methods of inductive science, and making plentiful use of concrete illustrations), its fashionable [[Philosophical pessimism|pessimism]] and the vigour and lucidity of its style. The conception of the [[Unconscious spirit|Unconscious]], by which Von Hartmann describes his ultimate [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] principle is, fundamentally, not as paradoxical as it sounds, being merely a new and mysterious designation for the [[Absolute (philosophy)|Absolute]] of German [[Metaphysics|metaphysicians]].<ref name="Cambridge University Press 1911"/>

The Unconscious is both [[Will (philosophy)|Will]] and [[Reason]] (the latter concept also interpreted as [[Idea]]) and the absolute all-embracing ground of all existence. von Hartmann thus combines [[pantheism]] with panlogism in a manner adumbrated by [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling|Schelling]] in his positive philosophy. Nevertheless, Will and not Reason is the primary aspect of the Unconscious, whose melancholy career is determined by the primacy of the Will and the latency of the Reason. Will is void of reason when it passes from potentiality to actual willing.<ref name="Cambridge University Press 1911"/> The original state of the Unconscious is one of potentiality, in which, by pure chance, the Will begins to strive. In the transition state, called that of the empty Will, there is no definite end. Acting on its own, the Will creates absolute misery.<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/>

[[File:EvHartmann.JPG|thumb|Wood engraving of von Hartmann, {{Circa|1875}}|left]]
To avoid the unhappiness of aimless desire, the Will realizes the ideas already potentially present and the Unconscious becomes actual. The existence of the universe is the result, then, of the illogical Will, but its characteristics and laws are all due to the Idea or Reason and are, therefore, logical.<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/> It is [[Best of all possible worlds|the best of all possible worlds]], which contains the promise of the redemption of the Unconscious from actual existence by the exercise of Reason in partnership with the Will in the consciousness of the enlightened pessimist.<ref name="Cambridge University Press 1911"/>

The history of the world is that given by natural science, and particular emphasis is laid upon the [[Natural selection|Darwinian theory of evolution]]. Humanity developed from the animal, and with the appearance of the first human being the deliverance of the world is in sight, for only in the human being does consciousness reach such height and complexity as to act independently of the Will. As consciousness develops, there is a constantly growing recognition of the fact that deliverance must lie in a return to the original state of non-willing, which means the non-existence of all individuals and the potentiality of the Unconscious.<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/> When the greater part of the Will in existence is so far enlightened by reason as to perceive the inevitable misery of existence, a collective effort to will non-existence will be made, and the world will relapse into nothingness, the Unconscious into [[wikt:quiescence|quiescence]].<ref name="Cambridge University Press 1911"/>

von Hartmann called his philosophy a [[Transcendental realism (Schopenhauer)|transcendental realism]], because in it he professed to reach by means of [[Induction (logic)|induction]] from the broadest possible basis of experience a knowledge of that which lies beyond experience. A certain portion of consciousness, namely [[perception]], begins, changes and ends without our consent and often in direct opposition to our desires. Perception, then, cannot be adequately explained from the [[Ego (spirituality)|ego]] alone, and the existence of things outside experience must be posited. Moreover, since they act upon consciousness and do so in different ways at different times, they must have those qualities assigned to them which would make such action possible. Causality is thus made the link that connects the subjective world of ideas with the objective world of things.<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/>

An examination of the rest of experience, especially such phenomena as instinct, voluntary motion, sexual love, artistic production and the like, makes it evident that Will and Idea, unconscious but teleological, are everywhere operative, and that the underlying force is one and not many. This thing-in-itself may be called the Unconscious. It has two equally original attributes, namely, Will and Idea (or Reason).<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/>

The Unconscious appears as a combination of the metaphysics of [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] with that of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]].<ref name="Cambridge University Press 1911"/> In von Hartmann's view, Hegel and Schopenhauer were both wrong in making Idea or Reason subordinate to Will or Will subordinate to Idea or Reason; on the contrary, neither can act alone, and neither is the result of the other. The Will's lack of logic causes the existence of the "that" ({{langx|de|Daß}}) of the world; the Idea or Reason, though not conscious, is logical, and determines the essence, the "what" ({{langx|de|Was}}). The endless and vain striving of the Will necessitates the great preponderance of suffering in the universe, which could not well be more wretched than it is. Nevertheless, it must be characterized as the best possible world, for both nature and history are constantly developing in the manner best adapted to the ending of the world; and by means of increasing consciousness the idea, instead of prolonging suffering to eternity, provides a refuge from the evils of existence in non-existence.<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/>

von Hartmann is a pessimist, for no other view of life recognizes that evil necessarily belongs to existence and can cease only with existence itself. But he is not an unmitigated pessimist.<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/> The individual's happiness is indeed unattainable either here and now or hereafter and in the future, but he does not despair of ultimately releasing the Unconscious from its sufferings. He differs from Schopenhauer in making salvation by the negation of the [[will to live]] depend on a collective social effort and not on individualistic [[asceticism]]. The conception of a redemption of the Unconscious also supplies the ultimate basis of von Hartmann's [[ethics]]. We must provisionally affirm life and devote ourselves to social evolution, instead of striving after a happiness which is impossible; in so doing we shall find that morality renders life less unhappy than it would otherwise be. [[Suicide]], and all other forms of selfishness, are highly reprehensible. His realism enables him to maintain the reality of [[Time]], and so of the process of the world's redemption.<ref name="Cambridge University Press 1911"/>

[[File:Eduard von Hartmann.jpg|thumb|von Hartmann in 1902|left]]

The essential feature of the morality built upon the basis of von Hartmann's philosophy is the realization that all is one and that, while every attempt to gain happiness is illusory, yet before deliverance is possible, all forms of the illusion must appear and be tried to the utmost. Even he who recognizes the vanity of life best serves the highest aims by giving himself up to the illusion, and living as eagerly as if he thought life good. It is only through the constant attempt to gain happiness that people can learn the desirability of nothingness; and when this knowledge has become universal, or at least general, deliverance will come and the world will cease. No better proof of the rational nature of the universe is needed than that afforded by the different ways in which men have hoped to find happiness and so have been led unconsciously to work for the final goal. The first of these is the hope of good in the present, the confidence in the pleasures of this world, such as was felt by the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]]. This is followed by the [[Christianity|Christian]] transference of happiness to another and better life, to which in turn succeeds the illusion that looks for happiness in progress, and dreams of a future made worthwhile by the achievements of science. All alike are empty promises, and known as such in the final stage, which sees all human desires as equally vain and the only good in the peace of [[Nirvana]].<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/>

The relation between philosophy and [[religion]] lies in their common recognition of an underlying unity, which transcends all the apparent differences and divisions due to individual phenomena. Many changes must take place in the existing religions before they will be suited to modern conditions, and the resulting religion of the future will be a concrete [[monism]].<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/>

von Hartmann's ''Philosophy of the Unconscious'' has been the subject of many different estimates, but is regarded as having less intrinsic than historical value. Its influence upon other thinkers was especially marked during the years following its first appearance, but by the early 20th century that influence had much decreased.<ref name="Grace Neal Dolson 1920"/> However, there are some grounds for considering it as providing the connection of thought between Schopenhauer's philosophy of the 'Will' and [[Sigmund Freud]]'s psychology of the 'unconscious'. In a sense his thought creates the bridge between the [[post-Kantian]] views of Will (in particular Schopenhauer's) and the [[Analytical psychology|Zürich school of psychology]].<ref>'Philosopher of the Unconscious' by [[Edouard d'Araille]] (Introduction to Volume 1 of ''The Philosophy of the Unconscious'' [2006 Ed./LTMI])</ref>

==Reception==
[[File:Eduard von Hartmann-Mutter Erde fec.jpg|thumb|right|240px|von Hartmann's grave in Berlin]]
[[Rudolf Steiner]], referring to von Hartmann's ''Critical Establishment of Transcendental Realism'' (''Kritische Grundlegung des transzendentalen Realismus'', 2nd Edition Berlin, 1875), gave his opinion, in the preface to his own book ''Truth and Knowledge'' (1892), that von Hartmann's world-view was "the most significant philosophical work of our time",<ref>Rudolf Steiner, ''Truth and Knowledge, Introduction to [[The Philosophy of Freedom]]'', 1892 [http://wn.rsarchive.org/Books/GA003/English/RSPI1963/GA003_pref.html]</ref> even though Steiner considered himself to be considerably misunderstood by Hartmann and was critical of some of Hartmann's postulates.<ref>Rudolf Steiner, ''[[The Philosophy of Freedom]], Appendix'', 1894 [https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA004/English/RSP1964/GA004_appendix.html]</ref>

[[Carl Jung]] wrote in his autobiography, ''[[Memories, Dreams, Reflections]]'' (1963), that he had read von Hartmann "assiduously".<ref>{{cite book |author=Carl Jung |author-link=Carl Jung |title=Memories, Dreams, Reflections |year=1963 |publisher=Random House |isbn=0-679-72395-1 |page=101}}</ref>

[[Philipp Mainländer]] dedicated an essay to the philosophy of von Hartmann. He did not consider him to be a genuine philosopher, because he did not start his philosophy with an [[epistemological]] research, despite the warnings of [[Immanuel Kant|Kant]] and Schopenhauer. The criticism has been described as an attack abounding in clean hits but marred by bitter sarcasm,<ref>{{cite book |author=Tsanoff, Radoslav |title=The Nature of Evil |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.212694 |year=1931|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.212694/page/n378 356]}}</ref> such as "is the coitus a ''sacrifice'' the individual makes? You must be – I repeat it – a very strangely organized being",{{#tag:ref|"{{lang|de|Ist der Beischlaf ein Opfer, das das Individuum bringt? Sie müssen – ich wiederhole es – ein ganz sonderbar organisirtes Wesen sein.}}"|group=Note}} and for denying Schopenhauer's deduction that the will is the [[thing-in-itself]]: "you also have the sad honor, to stand at the same level as those who have misunderstood Copernicus and still confidently believe that the sun turns around the earth."{{#tag:ref|"{{lang|de|Sie haben auch den traurigen Ruhm, auf gleicher Stufe mit Jenen zu stehen, welche Copernicus nicht begriffen haben und nach wie vor zuversichtlich glauben, daß sich die Sonne um die Erde drehe.}}"|group=Note}}

[[Friedrich Nietzsche]] offers a scathing criticism of von Hartmann, calling his philosophy "unconscious irony" and "roguery", in the second of his ''[[Untimely Meditations]]'', ''On the Use and Abuse of History for Life''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Friedrich Nietzsche |author-link=Friedrich Nietzsche |title=[[Untimely Meditations]] |year=1874 |publisher=E. W. Fritzsch}}[[s:On the Use and Abuse of History for Life]]</ref> In ''[[Beyond Good and Evil]]'' he hurled the epithets "amalgamist" and "hotch-potch philosopher" at him.

British film-maker and author Edouard d'Araille provides a modern-day appraisal of the philosophy of von Hartmann in his introductory essay to the 2001 edition (3 volumes) of ''The Philosophy of the Unconscious''. He evaluates von Hartmann as the vital link between the [[vitalism]] of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] and the psychology of the Unconscious of [[Sigmund Freud]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Karl Robert
|title=The Philosophy of the Unconscious (3 volumes) |publisher=Living Time Media International |year=2001|isbn= 978-1905820481 |page=?}}</ref>

==Works==
von Hartmann's numerous works extend to more than 12,000 pages. They may be classified into:

===Systematic===
* ''Das Ding an sich und seine Beschaffenheit'' ("The thing in itself and its nature", 1871)
* ''Grundprobleme der Erkenntnistheorie'' ("Fundamental problems of epistemology", 1889)
* ''Kategorienlehre'' ("Doctrine of the Categories", 1896)
* ''Phänomenologie des sittlichen Bewußtseins'' ("Phenomenology of Moral Consciousness", 1879)
* ''Die Philosophie des Schönen'' ("'The Philosophy of the Beautiful", 1887)
* ''Die Religion des Geistes'' ("The Religion of the Spirit"; 1882)
* ''Philosophie des Unbewussten'' ("Philosophy of the Unconscious", 3 volumes, which now include his, originally anonymous, self-criticism, ''Das Unbewusste vom Standpunkte der Physiologie und Descendenztheorie'', and its refutation, Eng. trans. by William Chatterton Coupland, 1884)
* ''System der Philosophie im Grundriss'', ("Plan for a System of Philosophy", 8 volumes, 1907–09: posthumous)
* ''Beiträge zur Naturphilosophie'' ("Contributions to Natural Philosophy", 1876)

===Historical and critical===
* ''Das religiöse Bewusstsein der Menschheit'' (The Religious Consciousness of Mankind in the Stages of Its Development; 1881)
* ''Geschichte der Metaphysik'' (2 volumes)
* ''Kants Erkenntnistheorie''
* ''Kritische Grundlegung des transcendentalen Realismus'' (Critical Grounds of Transcendental Realism)
* ''Uber die dialektische Methode''
* ''Lotzes Philosophie'' (1888) (a study on [[Hermann Lotze]])
* ''Zur Geschichte und Begründung des Pessimismus'' (1880)
* ''Neukantianismus, Schopenhauerismus, Hegelianismus''
* ''Geschichte der deutschen Ästhetik und Kant''
* ''Die Krisis des Christentums in der modernen Theologie'' (The Crisis of Christianity in Modern Theology; 1880)
* ''Philosophische Fragen der Gegenwart''
* ''Ethische Studien''
* ''Aesthetik'' (1886–87)
* ''Moderne Psychologie''
* ''Das Christentum des neuen Testaments''
* ''Die Weltanschauung der modernen Physik''
* ''Wahrheit und Irrthum im Darwinismus'' (1875)
* ''Zur Reform des höheren Schulwesens'' (1875)

===Popular===
* ''Aphorismen über das Drama'' (1870)
* ''Shakespeares Romeo und Juliet'' (1875)
* ''Soziale Kernfragen'' (The Fundamental Social Questions; 1894)
* ''Moderne Probleme''
* ''Tagesfragen''
* ''Zwei Jahrzehnte deutscher Politik und die gegenwärtige Weltlage'' (1888)
* ''Das Judentum in Gegenwart und Zukunft'' (Judaism in the Present and the Future; 1885)
* ''Die Selbstzersetzung des Christentums und die Religion der Zukunft'' (1874)
* ''Gesammelte Studien''
* ''[[Spiritism (book)|Der Spiritismus]]'' (1885)
* ''Die Geisterhypothese des Spiritismus'' (The Ghost Theory in Spiritism; 1891)
* ''Zur Zeitgeschichte''

His select works were published in 10 volumes.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite web|last=Moynihan|first=Thomas|title=Solve suffering by blowing up the universe? The dubious philosophy of human extinction|url=http://theconversation.com/solve-suffering-by-blowing-up-the-universe-the-dubious-philosophy-of-human-extinction-149331|access-date=2021-11-02|website=The Conversation|date=17 November 2020 |language=en}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Eduard von Hartmann}}
{{Wikisource|1=The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Hartmann, Karl Robert Edouard von|2=Hartmann, Karl Robert Edouard von}}
{{Wikiquote|Eduard von Hartmann}}
* {{gutenberg author|48151}}
* [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Hartmann%2C+Eduard+von%2C+1842-1906%22 Works by Eduard von Harmann] at the [[Internet Archive]]

{{Philosophical pessimism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartmann, Eduard Von}}
[[Category:1842 births]]
[[Category:1906 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century German male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century German philosophers]]
[[Category:Independent scholars]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Brandenburg]]
[[Category:Philosophers of pessimism]]
[[Category:Prussian Army personnel]]
[[Category:University of Rostock alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Berlin]]
[[Category:German writers with disabilities]]

Eduard von Hartmann - Revision history

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