Card number 3Karo, Will & Intellect
Intellect is invisible to the man who has none.
BY OTHERS◆Wednesday, January 1, 1851
by Arthur Schopenhauer
Dinner with Schopenhauer at the Englischer Hof, one o'clock: coffee first, with all 413 of his remarks; then the gold piece by his plate, the pendulum between pain and boredom, the porcupines in winter, the thirty-eight stratagems of being right, talent and genius at the shooting gallery, the veil of Maya, a walk with Atma, and a headstone that will not take a date.
tags: philosophy, pessimism, will, schopenhauer, pendulum, atma, frankfurt, parerga, hedgehogs, porcupines, art-of-being-right, englischer-hof
Place card: Herr Dr.Schopenhauer
Englischer Hof*, Am Roßmarkt, Frankfurt am Main
Table d’hôteum ein Uhr, at one o’clock
- TischgesprächTable talk
- Frauen, Hunde und Pferdewomen, dogs and horses (daily)
- MusikMusic
- Flöte, eine halbe Stunde, vorherthe flute, half an hour, beforehand
- AnzugDress
- Frack und weiße Halsbindetailcoat and white tie
Of the Englischer Hof: Asked if he harboured royal heads, the landlord replied: “Yes, Dr. Schopenhauer.”
To a stranger who watched him across the table: “Sir, you are astonished at my appetite. True, I eat three times as much as you, but then I have three times as much mind.”
Both as told by Helen Zimmern, Arthur Schopenhauer: His Life and His Philosophy (1876), ch. VIII.
That piece of gold is to go to the poor, whenever I hear the officers discuss anything more serious than women, dogs, and horses.Zimmern, 1876
In Frankfurt he dined at one o'clock at the table d'hôte of the Englischer Hof, after half an hour on the flute, in tailcoat and white tie. The house serves his dinner here as he would have wanted it served: coffee first, and against the custom of the house, all of his remarks with it.
Vorweg · Kaffee; To Begin · Coffee
Parerga und Paralipomena: Side Dishes and Leftovers*
412 of 413 undealt
3 of 413 in the pile
Sort by suit
Der Joker · the whole deck. Thirteen suits, 413 cards, no trumps. Choose a suit to sort the pile.
Dealt to you: 0Read: 1 of 413
By-works and things left out, served as side dishes and leftovers: the book of 1851 that at last made him famous. The officers play Skat with four suits. His deck has thirteen, and nobody will play with him.
“Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another’s money. Idiots!”
Bonnumber IEnglischer HofTable d’hôteCoffee first, against the custom of the house. 413 remarks. All of them to me.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
Then the soup, and before the soup the gold piece, laid beside his plate as it was every day.
Vor der Suppe · Gedeck; Before the Soup · The Cover
Das Goldstück: The Gold Piece*
The RittmeisterMy grey went lame again at Bockenheim.horses
Raise a subject and time how long it lasts. Or try for something else entirely: the coin is waiting.
Days at table: 1. Coin given to the poor: 0.
It only has to happen once.
Raise a subject · Gesprächsstoff
He lays the gold piece by his plate at one, and puts it back in his pocket at the end of dinner.
For a long time he set it down at one o’clock and put it back in his pocket at the end of dinner. The poor are still waiting.
“That piece of gold is to go to the poor, whenever I hear the officers discuss anything more serious than women, dogs, and horses.”
Bonnumber IIEnglischer HofTable d’hôteGold piece by the plate. Again.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
The coin is still on the table. The soup is his best-known sentence.
Erster Gang · Suppe; First Course · Soup
Schmerz und Langeweile: Pain and Boredom*
Time spent satisfied0.00 s
- In pain
- 0:00
- In boredom
- 0:00
- Crossings
- 0
Bestellungsoup, at once
Satisfaction is served twice a swing, in portions of about a hundredth of a second.
“Thus its life swings like a pendulum backwards and forwards between pain and ennui.”
Bonnumber IIIEnglischer HofTable d’hôteSent back. Too hot. Then too cold.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
The fish arrives with a question about how close to sit to one's neighbours.
Zweiter Gang · Fisch; Second Course · Fish
Die Stachelschweine: The Porcupines*
A cold day in winter. Seven porcupines, every one of them freezing.
Turns of huddling and dispersing: 0. Freezing: 7. Quills touching: 0.
Served cold. Too close, quills; too far, frost; the gap between is called manners. The one on the hill brought his own heat and is not coming over.
A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in winter; but, as they began to prick one another with their quills, they were obliged to disperse.
Bonnumber IVEnglischer HofTable d’hôteAsked for the officers to be seated further off.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
The entrée is an argument, which he wrote a handbook for winning by any means, and did not publish.
Dritter Gang · Entrée; Third Course · Entrée
Die Kunst, Recht zu behalten: The Art of Being Right*
Der Rittmeister“A horse has four legs.”True.
He has said something true. You have five cards and no scruples.
Überzeugung · his conviction3 of 3
the cloth is clean
Kept for last
Pick a card to read it; pick it again, or press the button, to play it. The claim on the table is true. That has never stopped anyone.
Tag 1, Englischer Hof
Arguments won: 0. Arguments right: 0.
The numbers and the tricks are his; the names, the words and the German suits are ours: words, logic, questions, the man.
Thirty-eight tricks, catalogued so that they could be recognised and defeated. Thirty-seven of them are optional.
“Controversial Dialectic is the art of disputing, and of disputing in such a way as to hold one’s own, whether one is in the right or the wrong.”
Bonnumber VEnglischer HofTable d’hôteWon the argument with the officers. Was wrong.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
The roast is served at a shooting gallery.
Vierter Gang · Braten; Fourth Course · Roast
Talent und Genie: Talent and Genius*
Choose a marksman, then tap the range or use the buttons. The glass on the counter belongs to the genius. The company: The horse, at fifty paces. Nobody misses the horse.
Shoot at
| Marksman | Hits | Seen | Applause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Die Uebrigen | 0 | 0 | 0from each other |
| Das Talent | 0 | 0 | 0at once |
| Das Genie | ?cannot see from here | 0 | 0not yet |
Talent is applauded at once. Genius is applauded thirty-five years later, by way of London, on trust.
“The man of talent is like the marksman who hits a mark the others cannot hit; the man of genius is like the marksman who hits a mark they cannot even see to; therefore they only get news of him indirectly, and thus late; and even this they only accept upon trust and faith.”
Bonnumber VIEnglischer HofTable d’hôteAsked whether I saw it. I did not see it.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
For salad, a view of the Main, and what is behind it. The name for the painted cloth he took from India. Of the Upanishads he said, “It has been the solace of my life; it will be the solace of my death.”
Fünfter Gang · Salat; Fifth Course · Salad
Der Schleier der Maja: The Veil of Maya*
Maja pinx. (Maya painted it)Frankfurt am Main. Die alte Brücke mit Sachsenhausen.Wille sculps. (the Will engraved it)
Die Welt als Vorstellung
The World as Representation
He lived on this river, in a street called Schöne Aussicht: Beautiful View. Drag across the view to tear it.
Vorstellung 100 %Wille 0 %
Airs on the flute: 0Will stilled: 0.0 s
He played the flute every day, Rossini by preference. Music alone, he held, “speaks of the thing itself” (WWR I, § 52). This air is ours, in Rossini’s manner.
The world as representation, and then as will. A flute stills it for exactly as long as the flute is playing.
“It is Mâyâ, the veil of deception, which blinds the eyes of mortals, and makes them behold a world of which they cannot say either that it is or that it is not.”
Bonnumber VIIEnglischer HofTable d’hôteAsked what is behind the window. Sachsenhausen, sir.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
Dessert is a walk along the river with the poodle.
Sechster Gang · Nachtisch; Sixth Course · Dessert
Atma an der Leine: The World-Soul, on a Lead*
Atma is at the window. Children going by tell one another: “We saw young Schopenhauer looking out of the window.”
Hold Onward or Homeward, or tap and drag along the quay. With the picture focused: the arrow keys walk, A calls Atma, M scolds him. A walk counts when you reach the field path and come home.
Spazierbuchthe walk book
- Walks, door to field and back
- 0
- Half cigars thrown away
- 0
- Brought back by Atma
- 0
- Times called Du Mensch!
- 0
- Improvement in his character
- not yet attempted
The white poodle called Atma, the walk towards evening in any weather, the half cigars, the cane and the grunts, the spectacles he avoided, the gentleman on the wrong side, the children at the window and the dog let in mid-sentence: Helen Zimmern, Arthur Schopenhauer: His Life and His Philosophy (1876), pp. 160–61; Sachsenhausen, p. 166; the letter, p. 201. “The present moment personified”: Parerga II, “On the Sufferings of the World”. “Du Mensch!” is the story as it is usually told; Zimmern does not tell it.
He kept a succession of poodles and called them Atma, the soul of the world. When one misbehaved, it is said, he called it the worst thing he knew: Du Mensch! You human!
“I am often surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity of my dog; and I have similar experiences with mankind.”
Bonnumber VIIIEnglischer HofTable d’hôteA bone wrapped, for the poodle.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
And the bill.
Zuletzt · Die Rechnung; Last of All · The Bill
Der Grabstein: The Headstone*
Order anything from the book. The mason cuts whatever he is paid to cut.
Musterbuch the mason’s pattern book
Hauptfriedhof, Frankfurt, since 26 September 1860: black Belgian granite, his name, and by his own order nothing else. He has been found.
“No matter where; posterity will find me.” His answer when his friend Dr. Gwinner asked where he wished to be buried.
Bonnumber IXEnglischer HofTable d’hôtePaid in full. Gold piece back in his pocket.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
The officers are still on horses, women and dogs. The gold piece is still on the table.
After dinner he went on living, as he put it, a little life a day. The rest of his Frankfurt day is on a second card.
Home first. Someone is knocking.
Zu Hause · Die Tür; At Home · The Door
Die Heiterkeit klopft: Cheerfulness Knocks*
Bolts shot: 0Knocking: heartyReceived: nothing yet
Somebody is knocking.
He knocks once and pays cash. Every good reason for keeping him on the landing was a cheque on the Bank of Later, and that bank is never open.
“So if cheerfulness knocks at our door, we should throw it wide open, for it never comes inopportunely; instead of that, we often make scruples about letting it in. We want to be quite sure that we have every reason to be contented; then we are afraid that cheerfulness of spirits may interfere with serious reflections or weighty cares. Cheerfulness is a direct and immediate gain,—the very coin, as it were, of happiness, and not, like all else, merely a cheque upon the bank.”
Bonnumber IFrankfurt am Mainnach TischSomeone at the door. He is deciding whether he deserves them.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
On the promenade, two young people exchange a glance. He had a theory about who else was looking.
Auf der Promenade · Ein Blick; On the Promenade · A Glance
Der Genius der Gattung: The Genius of the Species*
Hauptbuch der Gattung The Ledger of the Species
- Character Wille·
- Intellect Intellekt·
- Nose Nase·
- Build Wuchs·
The Genius: The Genius of the Species opens his ledger. Assign the child its traits, his or hers.
Two strangers fall in love on the promenade. The only party consulted has not yet been born.
This scrutiny and analysis represent the meditation of the genius of the species on the individual which may be born and the combination of its qualities; and the greatness of their delight in and longing for each other is determined by this meditation.
Bonnumber IIFrankfurt am Mainnach TischTwo young people on the promenade. A third party is taking notes.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
In the evening, the concert: the one hour of the day, he thought, when the wheel stops.
Im Konzert · Musik; At the Concert · Music
Das Rad des Ixion: Ixion’s Wheel*
Click a board to grant him that want. Or let the music play, and then do nothing at all.
He wants six things. Grant him one.
Wants granted: 0. Wants outstanding: 6. Turns of the wheel: 0.
Grant him a want and the wheel turns faster, with the next one already on the board. Only the quartet stops it, and only until the applause.
The subject of willing is thus constantly stretched on the revolving wheel of Ixion, pours water into the sieve of the Danaids, is the ever-longing Tantalus. … we keep the Sabbath of the penal servitude of willing; the wheel of Ixion stands still.
Bonnumber IIIFrankfurt am Mainnach TischThe music begins. For once, nobody wants anything.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
Then the theatre, where every seat in the house has the best view.
Im Theater · Die Laterna magica; At the Theatre · The Magic Lantern
Die Grenzen der Welt: The Limits of the World*
Drag the brass knob on the horizon back into the house. Tap anyone your light reaches and show them your world.
One seat, one lantern, one world: yours. It ends, as worlds do, exactly where your light does.
Every seat has the best view; ask any of them. Widen your light as far as the curtain: the horizon steps back exactly as far as you come, and the gentleman beside you is still standing in the middle of the world.
“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world. This is an error of the intellect as inevitable as that error of the eye which lets us fancy that on the horizon heaven and earth meet.”
Bonnumber IVFrankfurt am Mainnach TischEvery seat has the best view. Ask any of them.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.
And the walk home by night, two of them on one pair of legs.
Der Heimweg · Bei Nacht; The Walk Home · By Night
Der Blinde und der Lahme: The Blind Man and the Lame*
You are the rider. Point the lantern:
Notizbuch · reasons
Nothing yet. He has not been anywhere he did not choose.
Directions given: 0Directions followed: 0Explanations written: 0
The lame man holds the lantern and keeps the diary, and is quite sure he is steering.
The intellect is originally entirely a stranger to the purposes of the will. It supplies the motives to the will, but it only learns afterwards, completely a posteriori, how they have affected it.
Bonnumber VFrankfurt am Mainnach TischWalking home. One of them is steering.Für die Armenfor the poor0 fl.