Two important formative influences in Mr. Shaw’s outlook on life have been Samuel Butler and Schopenhauer. To Butler there was an unconscious mind in nature, while to Schopenhauer this unconscious mind, a blind dynamic force, is elaborated into an important philosophy.
With many of the philosophic implications Mr. Shaw did not concern himself. He was uninterested both in metaphysics and in science, but being deeply interested in man’s social welfare he saw in this Life-Force a solution to his perplexities. Despite, his strong rationalistic tendencies, Shaw’s curious dislike of and contempt for science put definite limits on his rationalism.
He was rationalistic in his hatred of sentimentality and of all the pretty insincerities that obscured men’s vision of the realities of life. The fact is, there are two contradictory strains in Mr. Shaw’s temperament- an intensely practical and utilitarian strain, and a fantastic, imaginative, and semi-mystical strain.