ABSTRACT
There are many kinds of “truth” in Schopenhauer’s transcendental-idealist system. The ordinary kind is accessible through interested perception and scientific inquiry. But when we break from our customary egoism to cognize the world will-lessly in aesthetic experience, for Schopenhauer, we gain access to some metaphysical truths. Analogously, when we break from our ordinary egoism to feel and act in the world compassionately, we also gain access to a metaphysical truth. But since will-lessness is the sine qua non of aesthetic experience and ipso facto of aesthetic metaphysical insight, it stands to reason that compassionate metaphysical insight in Schopenhauer must be different because compassion is will-full: The compassionate person is non-egoistic, but still wills; she wills the prevention or alleviation of the suffering of the other. What I see as the systemically required distinction in the sort of metaphysical truth on offer in aesthetic and moral perception respectively, entails a corresponding distinction in the sort of practice that would enable a subject to arrive at these truths. The aim of this chapter is to reconstruct these distinct practices of truth as they emerge in Schopenhauer’s philosophy, which might be called “the practice of beauty” and “the practice of compassion.”
