Denken ohne Affekt – Einfluss von Melancholie, Manie und Psychose auf die Philosophiegeschichte

摘要

As this article cannot claim to offer an exhaustive list of philosophers suffering from mental disorders in the given framework, it instead sets out to explore the possible influence of mental illness, and in particular of affective disorders, on the history of ideas. Thought is, namely, always accompanied by feelings, in many cases even led by them, although some philosophers and their readers still think they can tackle and resolve mankind's biggest problems while remaining completely detached from their emotional lives and experiences. If we could overcome the frequently used impersonal “it” of emotions by adopting a new approach to them using “you” or “we,” i. e. no longer regard them as something animalistic and strange, but as an integrative part of our Self, we would be far more able to accept that some of the great and crucial ideas of the philosophers whom we so admire, also have their source in the animalistic, in deep emotions, and possibly, also, in the experience of illness.