Ethics & Aesthetics in Schopenhauer & Wittgenstein

It is well known that Wittgenstein was inspired by Schopenhauer; a small tradition in the literature already discusses a number of notable commonalities and developments between the two thinkers. Yet, much of this literature is dated, and there remain many regrettably overlooked connections between these historical giants. In particular, many such connections lie between their multifaceted engagements with questions of value – with ethics and aesthetics. 

The workshop aims to bring together leading scholars and emerging researchers to spark new discussions on Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein’s views on ethics and aesthetics—thereby uncovering new connections between the two. We seek to platform talks on intriguing and underexplored aspects of Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein’s thinking on value, including (but by no means limited to): 

- The ethical and aesthetic dimensions of their shared fascination with the transcendental 

- The notion of seeing the world sub specie aeternitatis (from the perspective of eternity) 

- Schopenhauer’s presentation of aesthetic contemplation, and its resonance in Wittgenstein 

- The respective roles played by meaning (Bedeutung) in our engagements with value 

- The impression of mysticism in Wittgenstein’s philosophy and its ancestry in Schopenhauer’s work 

- The role of the willing subject in both thinkers’ accounts of action and ethics, and in their broader philosophical frameworks