Schopenhauer
Modern philosophyA figure of German pessimism and Romanticism, Arthur Schopenhauer is best known for his main work, The World as Will and Representation.
The notion of will, or the will-to-live, occupies a fundamental place in his thought: it is the core of being and what constitutes everything, an idea that would exert a profound influence on Nietzsche.
Aesthetic contemplation acquires a new meaning from this point of view.
Anecdotes
Why did the meeting between Goethe and Schopenhauer end up turning sour? A look back at one of philosophy's most famous falling-outs...
Bibliography
Here are the essential books if you wish to better understand this author's thinking:
Magee, Bryan, The Philosophy of Schopenhauer, Oxford University Press (1997)
Janaway, Christopher, 2002. Schopenhauer: A Very Short introduction. Oxford University Press
Cartwright, David E. (2010). Schopenhauer: A Biography. Cambridge University Press
Safranski, Rüdiger (1990) Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy. Harvard University Press,
Hannan, Barbara, The Riddle of the World: A Reconsideration of Schopenhauer's Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009
Recommended videos
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Biography: life of Schopenhauer
Youth
Arthur Schopenhauer was born in 1788 in Danzig, Prussia, into a merchant family. His father destined him to work in the same profession as himself. To do this, he had to travel and study languages.
Although Schopenhauer already felt an interest in literary studies, he relented, and began his education. This led him to visit France, London, Savoy, Switzerland, Austria...
He then became a commercial employee, but did not flourish in this role. Everything is called into question when his father dies, falling (or throwing himself?) into a canal.
Arthur's mother shared her son's passion for letters. She sells her late husband's business, and opens a literary salon in Weimar, soon to be frequented by a distinguished guest: Goethe.
Arthur was finally able to begin studying literature, at a grammar school in Gotha and another in Weimar, then at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. There he attended lectures by Fichte, which disappointed him. A great admirer of Kantian thought, he could not forgive those who had betrayed the master's legacy, and who had pushed transcendental idealism towards absolute idealism: Fichte, Schelling, Hegel.
The philosopher
At the age of twenty-five, he completed his studies and began writing his doctoral thesis: On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason.
He discovered Hindu philosophy, which would exert a profound influence on his thought, on the occasion of his reading of the Upanishads, a collection of sacred texts that form the theoretical basis of it.
In 1814, he moved to Dresden, where he set about writing his great work, The World as Will and Representation, for four years.
Several failures led him to depression: his work was published to general indifference, much to his disappointment. He also encountered financial problems (the bank in which he had invested his inheritance went bankrupt). Finally, his lectures at the University of Berlin failed to attract any students: they went to those of his great rival Hegel, whom he despised. Schopenhauer had to contend with empty classrooms, and eventually resigned.
He frequently changed cities, moving from Berlin to Frankfurt, passing through Mannheim. In 1839, his work finally attracted attention; his dissertation, On the Freedom of the Will, was awarded a prize by the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences.
End of life
More than a decade later, in 1851, he published his other fundamental work: Parerga and Paralipomena. Schopenhauer then enjoyed late success at the end of his life, about which he did not fail to bitterly ironise. In any case, he was convinced that his work would only be recognised by posterity, after his death.
He thus became a figure of 19th century German philosophy, respected and praised as such, exerting a profound influence on thinkers such as Nietzsche, Freud or Bergson.
He died in 1860 in Frankfurt am Main of a heart attack, and a confirmed bachelor, bequeathing all his possessions to his most faithful companion, his dog Atma.
Main works
On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason
The World as Will and Representation
The Art of Being Right
The Two Fundamental Problems of Ethics
Parerga and Paralipomena