Mainländer reinterprets Schopenhauer's "Will to Live" as a "Will to Death". He argued that all life is a detour toward non-being; we strive to survive only so we can eventually reach the "redemption" of total extinction. Immanent Philosophy:
Mainländer argued that a primordial singularity (which he called "God") desired non-existence but could not simply vanish because its absolute unity was too powerful. philipp mainlander philosophy of redemption pdf
At the heart of Mainländer’s system is a radical cosmogony. He argues that before the universe existed, there was a "Simple Unity" (God). However, this Unity found that its existence was not a blessing but a burden. God desired non-existence, but as an absolute being, he could not simply "vanish." Instead, God underwent a process of fragmentation, shattering himself into the multitude of the physical universe. Mainländer reinterprets Schopenhauer's "Will to Live" as a