Chapter 25 Part II The World as a Preliminary Treatise on the Will §25

We know that multiplicity is absolutely conditioned by time and space and is thinkable only in time and space; in this sense we call time and space the principle of individuation.But we have recognized time and space as forms of the law of sufficient reason, and all our a priori knowledge is expressed in this law.These forms as forms, as already analyzed above, can only belong to the intelligibility of things, but not to things themselves, that is to say, these forms are only forms we know, not attributes of things in themselves. .The reason why the thing-in-itself is independent of all forms of cognition, and is independent of the most general form of "the object that is the subject", is to say that the thing-in-itself is fundamentally different from appearance.If this thing-in-itself is the will—and I believe I have sufficiently demonstrated and made myself clear—then, as will and separately from its appearance, stands outside time and space. , so that there is no multiplicity, and therefore [only] one; but, as already said, this one is neither like the one of an individual nor like the one of a concept. , but something that has nothing to do with the condition of the possibility of multiplicity, that is, with the principle of individuation.The multiplicity of things in space and time is all objectivity of the will, so the multiplicity does not govern the will, nor does the will regardless of the multiplicity, and remains indivisible. [It cannot be said] that in the stone is a small part of the will, in man it is the greater part, for the relation of the part to the whole is exclusive to space, and as long as man speaks away from this intuitive form, this relation ceases to exist. What's the point.On the contrary, it is more or less concerned with getting phenomena, that is, with visibility, with objectification.In the degree of visibility or objectification, then what is in the vegetable is higher than that in the stone, and that in the animal is higher than that in the vegetable. Yea, the will has appeared in visibility, and its objectification is There are infinite gradations, as there are infinite gradations between the faintest dawn or twilight and the strongest daylight, as there are infinite gradations between the highest sound and the faintest tail.In what follows, we shall return to this level of visibility, which belongs to the objectification of the will and to the portrayal of its essence.Levels of objectification of the will are no longer directly related to the will itself, and at these levels the multiplicity of phenomena does not concern itself; the multiplicity of phenomena is the number of individuals in each form or the number of individuals of each form. The number of forces shown individually. [This multiplicity does not govern the will], because the multiplicity is directly determined by time and space, and the will never enters time and space.It is present in one oak or in millions of oaks, all equally whole, equally complete.The number of oaks, the multiplication of oaks in space and time, is of no significance to the will itself, but only to the multiplicity of individuals; and these individuals are known in space and time, It is reproduced and spread in space and time.Their multiplicity is also concerned only with the phenomenon of will, not with will itself.One might therefore maintain that if,—for it is impossible—a single being, even the tiniest one, should perish altogether, the whole world must perish with it.In realizing this, the great mystic Angelus Silegius said:

"I know that without me, God cannot exist for a moment; if I disappear, he must lose his spirit." Men have tried in various ways to make the infinity of the celestial bodies more suitable to everyone's understanding, and have thus obtained a cause for stimulating investigations, such as talking about the earth, or even about the smallness of man, and then returning to it. In other words, this insignificant person has a great spirit inside, capable of discovering, understanding, and even measuring the size of the universe and so on.That's all good!But as far as I am concerned, in considering the infinity of the universe, what is most important is the essence itself, and its appearance is the essence itself of the world,-whatever it may be-, which cannot really be such Spreading in the boundless space, it cannot be scattered like this.This endless expanse is entirely its own phenomenon, which itself, on the contrary, is complete and indivisible in everything in nature, in every living being.Therefore, even if one clings to any single [object or living being], one loses nothing; and even if one measures the boundless universe, or, more purposefully, flies over the infinite universe himself. Space, but still can't get any real wisdom.One can gain wisdom only by thoroughly studying any particular [thing], learning to know fully, to comprehend fully the true, original nature of that particular [thing].

The following, then, which here has naturally come to the mind of every follower of Plato, will be the subject of [our] detailed examination in the next chapter.That is to say that the different degrees of the objectification of the will, expressed in innumerable individuals, either as standard patterns which the individual has not attained, or as permanent forms of things, do not themselves enter into time-space, into this individual. Intermediary: but out of time, permanent and unchanging, ever-present, never becoming [later]; while these individuals arise and perish, are always changing, never permanent. [Therefore] I say that these levels of "objectification of the will" are nothing but Plato's ideas.I mention this here for the time being, in order to use the word Idea in this sense later.Therefore, when I use this word, I must always use its original and authentic meaning that Plato once gave to experience it; I must never think of those abstract products of dogmatic rationality carried out in a scholastic way.It is a disproportionate and illegitimate misuse for Kant to designate those abstract products with the term that Plato has already appropriated and used so aptly.So my experience of the Idea is: the Idea is every fixed level of objectification of the will, so long as the will is a thing in itself and therefore not involved in multiplicity.And the relationship of these levels to individual things is equivalent to the level is the eternal form or standard mode of things.Regarding Plato's famous theory, Diogenes 181 Rheuzus ("Greek Philosopher's Biographies" IV, 12) gives us the shortest and most compact statement: "Plato means that ideas are in nature, It’s like putting a pattern on nature, and everything else is only similar to the idea, and exists as a copy of the idea.” As for Kant’s misuse of the word [idea], I will ignore it here, and what has to be said is in the appendix.