|Born||October 5, 1841 Offenbach am Main, Grand Duchy of Hesse
|Died||April 1, 1876 Offenbach am Main, Grand Duchy of Hesse
|Era||19th century philosophy| |Main interests||Metaphysics,
psychology| |Notable ideas||the Will to Die| Philipp Mainländer
(October 5, 1841 April 1, 1876) was a German poet and
philosopher. Born as Philipp Batz, he later changed his name
into Mainländer from adoration for his hometown Offenbach am
Main. In his central work Die Philosophie der Erlösung (The
Philosophy of Redemption) —according to Theodor Lessing “perhaps
the most radical system of pessimism known to philosophical
literature” 1 —Mainländer proclaims that life is absolutely
worthless, and that “the will, ignited by the knowledge that
non-being is better than being, is the supreme principle of
morality.” 2 Born "as a child of marital rape" (German: als Kind
ehelicher Notzucht3) on October 5, 1841, in Offenbach, Philipp
Mainländer grew up the youngest of six siblings. In 1856, on
paternal instruction, Mainländer entered the