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Philosophy of Life (often referred to as Lebensphilosophie) was a current of philosophical thought that emerged in, and dominated in Germany between 1880 and 1930. Its representatives included philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Wilhelm Dilthey, Heinrich Rickert, Georg Simmel, Ludwig Klages and Henri Bergson, among others. Its spectrum covered problems that emerged in European philosophy during the fin de siècle period, such as no longer capable methodology of historicism and the need to transform the obsolete structure of the subject. Lebensphilosophie aimed to shift the balance established in the monumental systems of Immanuel Kant and Georg Hegel, which favorited the impersonal reason as the ultimate recognizing subject. Philosophy of Life denied the tradition of analytical philosophy, which it argued had become obsolete and failed to keep up with the rapid changes occurring at the turn of the 19th and early 20th Century. The notions of romanticism and contemporary individualism that enforced the famous Sturm und Drang period on one hand, and the progress of natural sciences that led to evolutionism and vitalism on the other, shaped the period’s demand for a new philosophical concept. Life emerged as a potent and true category. With its proclaimers being among the most influential philosophers, writers and artists in Germany, philosophy of life became the most talked-about intellectual project in the country. As Georg Simmel put it, ‘life’ became as powerful a category of philosophy in the 20th Century as ‘being’. ‘nature’, ‘God’ or ‘I’ were in previous periods However, its themes were based around the same principles as those of existentialism, which some believe is directly derived from philosophy of life. Existentialism eventually engulfed the current of Lebensphilosophie and that is why it is hardly ever recognized as a school in its own right today. In fact, philosophers, who are regarded as the founders of existentialism, such as Karl Jaspers or Martin Heidegger, were in their own day actually seen as members of the Life Philosophy school. IDEAS Philosophy of Life revolves around two key categories, which mark its independence in confrontation with classic philosophical systems:

•	Life – although Lebensphilosophie emerged in a historical period defined by the success of science, the philosophical concept of life does not refer to the biological understanding of it. In his book on German philosophy of the period, Herbert Schnadelbach gives a detailed account of how the term ‘life’ was regarded when it first emerged as a philosophic-cultural category: ‘Life’ was a frontline emblem of the struggle against what is dead and decayed, against the intellectualist civilization, which had turned its back on life. At stake were concepts such as ‘authenticity’, ‘dynamism’, ‘creativity’ and ‘youth’. The dichotomy between what was dead and what was alive became the criterion of culture criticism; the legacy of the past was brought to trial in ‘the court of life’, to investigate whether it really served the purpose of living or objectified and endangered it.’  It is essential to picture the intellectual climate in which Philosophy of Life emerged. The strict, rational legacy of Enlightment that had been explored throughout the 19th Century structured a well-prospering status quo in the world of science, with physics and biology continuously pushing the boundaries of knowledge and possibility one step further. Philosophy, which had in the past centuries fancied itself the queen of sciences, now had to face the fact that the criteria of what is science and what is not had changed, and that it no longer fitted these criteria. Therefore, the notion of irrationalism was brought up as a counterweight for the rationalist systems of the past. That is where the ‘life’ category fits in, as a kind of vaguely defined, vital and ephemeral force. In fact, ‘life’ is an endeavor to shift the balance in philosophy – to move it from the impersonal Kantian reason to a living human being, incorporating all of its aspects – psychic, organic, metaphysic. Life, according to Wilhelm Dilthey, is understood as a function unique to men. It summarizes the entirety of human prosperity. It is the most important value, the ultimate reality. ‘Life as something that engulfs the culture, the spirit, and the individual conscience – that is what forms a shared basis for Life Philosophy in its different varieties. The metaphysics of what is irrational, meaning a clear break from a tradition of value judgments in philosophy, can be defined as the core of Philosophy of Life.’ •	Irrationalism – the core trait of Lebensphilosophie, which distinguished it from the coherent doctrines of the past. Irrationalism as a way of philosophical thinking was a clear break not only from the long tradition of German idealism, but it also pointed to the complete denial of the achievements of the Western civilization, which was entirely based on scientific progress and rational paradigm. Emerging of the irrational concept marked the end of an era, and foreshadowed the chaos of various ‘-isms’ that were to develop throughout 20th Century. Without the irrational notion of Lebensphilosophie, most of the modern artistic, literary and philosophical trends would have never occurred. Within Life Philosophy itself, the irrational was inseparable from the idea of ‘life’. In fact, Schopenhauer defined ‘life’ as ‘metaphysics of the irrational’. According to classical understanding of metaphysics, this term is in itself contradictory, as it refers to human spirit and reason, which both traditionally exemplify the rational. This is the fundamental shift that Life philosophers brought into the philosophical paradigm. In today’s scholarly world, a huge gap has emerged between so-called ‘humanities’ and ‘science’, both at the elementary and academic levels. It is commonly defined as an opposition between the rational method, which is continuously proving its value as more and more discoveries greatly influence the modern world, and the growingly underrated humanities, which mainly focus on the not-so-rational issues regarding art, culture, and literature. This juxtaposition is very reminiscent of the Lebensphilosophie’s struggle against highly – coherent systems, which were only beginning to reach their full potential in the wake of 20th Century. That conflict can be seen as a first symptom of what has now become the traditional division between what can be empirically proven and the rest. And although the results of science endeavors are much more visible than these of its humane counterpart, there should be no doubt that both of these adversaries are worthy of each other. As Hermann Lotze noticed, ‘(…) we have an inner measure within ourselves, that brings to light how our perception is insufficient.’ Knowledge is nothing without morality and facts need interpretation. That message is how Life Philosophy’s endeavors can be read today.