Abstract

This essay aims at underlining Schopenhauer’s strong albeit not apparent philosophical influence on Carlo Michelstaedter’s thought. After expounding Michelstaedter’s “ontology of deficiency”, the author focuses on the correspondence between the monistical horizon outlined in Die Welt and that outlined by Michelstaedter: a correspondence which reflects itself in the dichotomy between “illusion of persuasion” and “rhetoric”, echoing the Schopenhauerian couple will – representation, and is also apparent from the frequent “hidden references” to Schopenhauer’s masterpiece in Michelstadter’s La persuasione e la rettorica. As for the reason of the lack of more explicit references to Schopenhauer, the author argues, it has to be seen in the fact that Michelstaedter’s philosophy finds its peculiar outcome in the ethical problematic, where the notion of persuasion comes into conflict with that of Noluntas. This hint is developed in the essay by means of an analysis of the phrase "through activity to peace," frequently employed by the philosopher in order to show the “way to persuasion”