Arthur Schopenhauer and China: A Sino-Platonic Love Affair

Description

The present book addresses a domain that has hitherto suffered from the usual neglect of sources used by Schopenhauer: his relationship with China. The fact that the Chinese sources of Schopenhauer’s main reading materials about China are here for the first time identified and described shows that so far very little has been achieved in this domain. After 150 years of Schopenhauer research, even the most basic questions still wait for answers. What did the philosopher learn about China in his youth and what did he read about it? What were his major sources about China, and what Chinese materials were they based on? How did he see China, and how did his views evolve? What was he primarily interested in, and how did this interest develop? Why did he write an essay on sinology and what does it contain? To such hitherto unanswered or even unposed questions (not all of which will be resolved in this book), I would like to add one that regards the title of my present contribution: why can one call his relationship with China a “love affair” of the “platonic” kind?