Editing German philosophy (section)

===Mainländer===
Working in the metaphysical framework of Schopenhauer, [[Philipp Mainländer]] sees the "will" as the innermost core of being, the ontological [[arche]]. However, he deviates from Schopenhauer in important respects. With Schopenhauer the will is singular, unified and beyond time and space. Schopenhauer's [[transcendental idealism]] leads him to conclude that we only have access to a certain aspect of the [[thing-in-itself]] by introspective observation of our own bodies. What we observe as will is all there is to observe, nothing more. There are no hidden aspects. Furthermore, via introspection we can only observe our ''individual'' will. This also leads Mainländer to the philosophical position of [[Pluralism (philosophy)|pluralism]].

Additionally, Mainländer accentuates on the idea of salvation for all of creation. This is yet another respect in which he differentiates his philosophy from that of Schopenhauer. With Schopenhauer, the silencing of the will is a rare event. The artistic genius can achieve this state temporarily, while only a few saints have achieved total cessation throughout history. For Mainländer, the entirety of the cosmos is slowly but surely moving towards the silencing of the will-to-live and to (as he calls it) "redemption".