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In the text below, we are witnessing two different uses of "vor," whose meanings I can partially infer from context, but I would like to request your comments and interpretations. Could you please explain to me what meanings you derive from these uses? Additionally, I would like to know whether these uses are also common in modern German or if they are archaic and obsolete forms. If so, what would one use in place of them in modern German?

"Ueberdies muß ja das Leben jedenfalls bald enden; so daß die wenigen Jahre, die man vielleicht noch dazuseyn hat, gänzlich verschwinden vor der endlosen Zeit, da man nicht mehr seyn wird. Demnach erscheint es, vor der Reflexion, sogar lächerlich, um diese Spanne Zeit so sehr besorgt zu seyn, so sehr zu zittern, wenn eigenes oder fremdes Leben in Gefahr geräth, und Trauerspiele zu dichten, deren Schreckliches seinen Nerven bloß in der Todesfurcht hat."(Kapitel 41.Ueber den Tod und sein Verhältniß zur Unzerstörbarkeit unsers Wesens an sich.,Arthur Schopenhauer,Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung Band 2)

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Those ways to use "vor" is in fact outdated and archaic. Regarding the meaning: I disagree with the opinion that it's a simple "before", in both cases.

In "vor der endlosen Zeit", a simple temporal meaning doesn't catch the main statement: instead, I would translate it as "compared to the endless time". In modern German, "im Hinblick auf die endlose Zeit", "mit Blick auf die endlose Zeit" or (maybe too formally) "vor dem Hintergrund der endlosen Zeit" may be used.

In the second case, it can't be a simple temporal "before", too, since (in my opinion) the statement is the result of deliberating the shortness of life - it doesn't happen "before" "der Reflexion", it's the Reflexion's outcome. That's a very odd way to use "vor" in my opinion. For me, the clause "vor der Reflexion" has a similar relative meaning as in the first case - "aufgrund / nach / vor dem Hintergrund dieser Reflexion" may catch the meaning, transferring it to modern German.

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