Il pensiero analogico in Schopenhauer e Vaihinger come una forma di simulazione mentale

Abstract

This study aims to analyse to what extent the encounter of the post-Kantian philosopher Hans Vaihinger with the thought of Arthur Schopenhauer contributed to the elaboration of fictionalism. Firstly, this paper will consider Schopenhauer’s references within Vaihinger’s autobiography, through which it will dwell on the concepts of pessimism and irrationalism, and especially on the primacy of practical reason. Secondly, it will compare the analogical structure of fiction at the base of Die Philosophie des Als Ob and the method of analogy used by Schopenhauer in The World as Will and Representation. It will emerge the common tendency towards universality by means of such devices, which, acting as mental simulations, allow interaction with the world but also its manipulation.