Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General editor's preface
- Editorial notes and references
- Introduction
- Notes on text and translation
- Chronology
- Bibliography
- PARERGA AND PARALIPOMENA, VOLUME 2
- Contents
- Sporadic yet systematically ordered thoughts on multifarious topics
- Chapter 1 On philosophy and its method
- Chapter 2 On logic and dialectic
- Chapter 3 Some thoughts concerning the intellect in general and in every respect
- Chapter 4 Some observations on the antithesis of the thing in itself and appearance
- Chapter 5 Some words on pantheism
- Chapter 6 On philosophy and natural science
- Chapter 7 On colour theory
- Chapter 8 On ethics
- Chapter 9 On jurisprudence and politics
- Chapter 10 On the doctrine of the indestructibility of our true essence by death
- Chapter 11 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the nothingness of existence
- Chapter 12 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the suffering of the world
- Chapter 13 On suicide
- Chapter 14 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the affirmation and negation of the will to life
- Chapter 15 On religion
- Chapter 16 Some remarks on Sanskrit literature
- Chapter 17 Some archaeological observations
- Chapter 18 Some mythological observations
- Chapter 19 On the metaphysics of the beautiful and aesthetics
- Chapter 20 On judgement, criticism, approbation and fame
- Chapter 21 On learning and the learned
- Chapter 22 Thinking for oneself
- Chapter 23 On writing and style
- Chapter 24 On reading and books
- Chapter 25 On language and words
- Chapter 26 Psychological remarks
- Chapter 27 On women
- Chapter 28 On education
- Chapter 29 On physiognomy
- Chapter 30 On noise and sounds
- Chapter 31 Similes, parables and fables
- Some verses
- Versions of Schopenhauer's text
- Glossary of names
- Index
Chapter 29 - On physiognomy
from PARERGA AND PARALIPOMENA, VOLUME 2
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General editor's preface
- Editorial notes and references
- Introduction
- Notes on text and translation
- Chronology
- Bibliography
- PARERGA AND PARALIPOMENA, VOLUME 2
- Contents
- Sporadic yet systematically ordered thoughts on multifarious topics
- Chapter 1 On philosophy and its method
- Chapter 2 On logic and dialectic
- Chapter 3 Some thoughts concerning the intellect in general and in every respect
- Chapter 4 Some observations on the antithesis of the thing in itself and appearance
- Chapter 5 Some words on pantheism
- Chapter 6 On philosophy and natural science
- Chapter 7 On colour theory
- Chapter 8 On ethics
- Chapter 9 On jurisprudence and politics
- Chapter 10 On the doctrine of the indestructibility of our true essence by death
- Chapter 11 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the nothingness of existence
- Chapter 12 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the suffering of the world
- Chapter 13 On suicide
- Chapter 14 Additional remarks on the doctrine of the affirmation and negation of the will to life
- Chapter 15 On religion
- Chapter 16 Some remarks on Sanskrit literature
- Chapter 17 Some archaeological observations
- Chapter 18 Some mythological observations
- Chapter 19 On the metaphysics of the beautiful and aesthetics
- Chapter 20 On judgement, criticism, approbation and fame
- Chapter 21 On learning and the learned
- Chapter 22 Thinking for oneself
- Chapter 23 On writing and style
- Chapter 24 On reading and books
- Chapter 25 On language and words
- Chapter 26 Psychological remarks
- Chapter 27 On women
- Chapter 28 On education
- Chapter 29 On physiognomy
- Chapter 30 On noise and sounds
- Chapter 31 Similes, parables and fables
- Some verses
- Versions of Schopenhauer's text
- Glossary of names
- Index
Summary
§377
That the exterior of a human being graphically reproduces his interior and the face expresses and reveals his whole essence is an assumption whose a priori nature and thus certainty are demonstrated by the universal desire, which appears at every opportunity, to see someone who has distinguished himself in any way, bad or good, or who has produced an extraordinary work or, failing this, at least to learn from others what he looks like. Hence, on the one hand, the rush to those places where he is expected to be, and on the other the efforts of the daily newspapers, especially in England, to describe him minutely and strikingly, until soon thereafter painters and engravers give us graphic portrayals and finally Daguerre's invention, so highly valued for precisely this reason, satisfies our need most perfectly. Likewise in ordinary life everyone examines the physiognomy of everyone they meet and tries secretly to ascertain his moral and intellectual nature in advance from his facial features. All this could not be the case if, as some fools imagine, the appearance of a man were of no significance, as if the soul were indeed one thing and the body another, relating to the former as a coat to the man himself.
On the contrary each human face is a hieroglyph which truly can be deciphered, indeed whose alphabet we bear within us ready-made. A human being's face even says more and is more interesting, as a rule, than his mouth, for it is the compendium of everything that he will ever say, being the monogram of all this human being's thinking and striving. It is also the case that the mouth expresses only the thoughts of a man, while the face expresses a thought of nature. Therefore everyone is worthy of being carefully observed, even if everyone is not worth talking to. – Now if each individual is worth observing as an individual thought of nature, then so too in the highest degree is beauty, for it is a higher, more universal concept of nature: it is nature's thought of the species. This is why it compels our gaze so powerfully; it is nature's fundamental and main thought, whereas the individual is only a secondary thought, a corollary.
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- Schopenhauer: Parerga and ParalipomenaShort Philosophical Essays, pp. 568 - 574Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015
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