Arthur Schopenhauer

Schopenhauer redirects here.

Schopenhauer (disambiguation).

For other uses, see

Arthur Schopenhauer (German: [at pnha];

22 February 1788 21 September 1860) was a German
philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work The
World as Will and Representation, in which he characterizes the phenomenal world, and consequently all human action, as the product of a blind, insatiable, and
malignant metaphysical will.[2][3] Proceeding from the
transcendental idealism of Immanuel Kant, Schopenhauer developed an atheistic metaphysical and ethical system that has been described as an exemplary manifestation of philosophical pessimism,[4][5][6] rejecting the contemporaneous post-Kantian philosophies of German idealism.[7][8] Schopenhauer was among the rst thinkers
in Western philosophy to share and arm signicant
tenets of Eastern philosophy (e.g., asceticism, the worldas-appearance), having initially arrived at similar conclusions as the result of his own philosophical work.[9][10] His
writing on aesthetics, morality, and psychology would exert important inuence on thinkers and artists throughout
the 19th and 20th centuries.
Though his work failed to garner substantial attention
during his life, Schopenhauers posthumous impact has
proven profound across various disciplines, including
philosophy, literature, and science. Those who have cited
his inuence include Friedrich Nietzsche,[11] Richard
Wagner, Leo Tolstoy, Ludwig Wittgenstein,[12] Erwin
Schrdinger, Sigmund Freud, Joseph Campbell, Albert
Einstein,[13] Carl Jung, Thomas Mann, Jorge Luis Borges,
and Samuel Beckett,[14] among others.
Schopenhauers birthplace house, ul. w. Ducha (formerly
Heiligegeistgasse)

Life

her. As early as 1799, he started playing the ute.[17]

He became a student at the University of Gttingen in
1809. There he studied metaphysics and psychology under Gottlob Ernst Schulze, the author of Aenesidemus,
who advised him to concentrate on Plato and Immanuel
Kant. In Berlin, from 1811 to 1812, he had attended lectures by the prominent post-Kantian philosopher Johann
Gottlieb Fichte and the theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher.

Schopenhauer was born on 22 February 1788, in the

city of Danzig (Gdask, Poland) on Heiligegeistgasse
(known in the present day as w. Ducha 47), the son
of Johanna Schopenhauer (ne Trosiener) and Heinrich
Floris Schopenhauer,[15] both descendants of wealthy
German patrician families. When Danzig became part of
Prussia in 1793, Heinrich moved to Hamburg, although
his rm continued trading in Danzig. In 1805, Schopenhauers father may have committed suicide.[16] Shortly
thereafter, Schopenhauers mother Johanna moved with
his sister Adele to Weimar, then the centre of German
literature, to pursue her writing career. After one year,
Schopenhauer left the family business in Hamburg to join

In 1814, Schopenhauer began his seminal work The

World as Will and Representation (Die Welt als Wille und
Vorstellung). He nished it in 1818 and published it the
following year. In Dresden in 1819, Schopenhauer fathered, with a servant, an illegitimate daughter who was
1

LIFE

singer, Caroline Richter (called Medon), and had a relationship with her for several years. He discarded marriage
plans, however, writing, Marrying means to halve ones
rights and double ones duties, and Marrying means
to grasp blindfolded into a sack hoping to nd an eel
amongst an assembly of snakes. When he was forty-three
years old, he took interest in seventeen-year-old Flora
Weiss but she rejected him as recorded in her diary.[25]

Schopenhauer as a youth

born and died the same year.[18][19] In 1820, Schopenhauer became a lecturer at the University of Berlin. He
scheduled his lectures to coincide with those of the famous philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, whom Schopenhauer
described as a clumsy charlatan.[20] However, only ve
students turned up to Schopenhauers lectures, and he
dropped out of academia. A late essay, On University
Philosophy, expressed his resentment towards the work
conducted in academies.
While in Berlin, Schopenhauer was named as a defendant in a lawsuit initiated by a woman named Caroline Marquet.[21] She asked for damages, alleging that
Schopenhauer had pushed her. According to Schopenhauers court testimony, she deliberately annoyed him by
raising her voice while standing right outside his door.[22]
Marquet alleged that the philosopher had assaulted and
battered her after she refused to leave his doorway. Her
companion testied that she saw Marquet prostrate outside his apartment. Because Marquet won the lawsuit,
Schopenhauer made payments to her for the next twenty
years.[23] When she died, he wrote on a copy of her death
certicate, Obit anus, abit onus (The old woman dies, the
burden is lifted).[24] In 1819 the fortunes of his mother
and sister, and himself, were threatened by the failure of
the rm in Danzig in which his father had been a director
and shareholder. His sister accepted a compromise compensation package of 70 per cent, but Schopenhauer angrily refused this, and eventually recovered 9400 thalers.

Schopenhauer had a notably strained relationship with his

mother Johanna Schopenhauer. After his fathers death,
Arthur Schopenhauer endured two long years of drudgery
as a merchant, in honor of his dead father. Then his
mother retired to Weimar, and Arthur Schopenhauer dedicated himself wholly to studies in the gymnasium of
Gotha. He left it in disgust after seeing one of the masters lampooned, and went to live with his mother. But by
that time she had already opened her famous salon, and
Arthur was not compatible with what he considered to
be the vain, ceremonious ways of the salon. He was also
disgusted by the ease with which Johanna Schopenhauer
had forgotten his fathers memory. Consequently, he attempted university life. There, he wrote his rst book, On
the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sucient Reason.
His mother informed him that the book was incomprehensible and it was unlikely that anyone would ever buy
a copy. In a t of temper Arthur Schopenhauer told her
that his work would be read long after the rubbish she
wrote would have been totally forgotten.[26][27]
In 1831, a cholera epidemic broke out in Berlin and
Schopenhauer left the city. Schopenhauer settled permanently in Frankfurt in 1833, where he remained for the
next twenty-seven years, living alone except for a succession of pet poodles named Atman and Butz. The numerous notes that he made during these years, amongst others
on aging, were published posthumously under the title Senilia.

Grave at Frankfurt Hauptfriedhof

Schopenhauer had a robust constitution, but in 1860 his

health began to deteriorate. He died of heart failure on
21 September 1860 while sitting at home on his couch.
In 1821, he fell in love with nineteen-year-old opera He was 72.[28]

2.2

Art and aesthetics

Thought

2.1

Philosophy of the Will

3
my representation. Will, for Schopenhauer, is what Kant
called the "thing-in-itself.[31] Nietzsche was greatly inuenced by this idea of Will, while developing it in a different direction.

Main article: The World as Will and Representation

A key focus of Schopenhauer was his investigation of 2.2

Art and aesthetics

Main article: Arthur Schopenhauers aesthetics

Schopenhauer in 1815, second of the critical ve years of the

initial composition of Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung

individual motivation. Before Schopenhauer, Hegel had

popularized the concept of Zeitgeist, the idea that society consisted of a collective consciousness which moved
in a distinct direction, dictating the actions of its members. Schopenhauer, a reader of both Kant and Hegel,
criticized their logical optimism and the belief that individual morality could be determined by society and reason. Schopenhauer believed that humans were motivated
by only their own basic desires, or Wille zum Leben (Will
to Live), which directed all of mankind.[29]
For Schopenhauer, human desire was futile, illogical, directionless, and, by extension, so was all human action in
the world. He wrote Man can indeed do what he wants,
but he cannot will what he wants. In this sense, he adhered to the Fichtean principle of idealism: the world
is for a subject. This idealism so presented, immediately commits it to an ethical attitude, unlike the purely
epistemological concerns of Descartes and Berkeley. To
Schopenhauer, the Will is a malignant,[30] metaphysical
existence which controls not only the actions of individual, intelligent agents, but ultimately all observable phenomena; an evil to be terminated via mankinds duties:
asceticism and chastity.[30] He is credited with one of the
most famous opening lines of philosophy: The world is

For Schopenhauer, human desiring, willing, and craving cause suering or pain. A temporary way to escape this pain is through aesthetic contemplation (a
method comparable to Zape's "Sublimation"). Aesthetic contemplation allows one to escape this pain
albeit temporarilybecause it stops one perceiving the
world as mere presentation. Instead, one no longer perceives the world as an object of perception (therefore
as subject to the Principle of Sucient Grounds; time,
space and causality) from which one is separated; rather
one becomes one with that perception: "one can thus no
longer separate the perceiver from the perception" (The
World as Will and Representation, section 34). From this
immersion with the world one no longer views oneself as
an individual who suers in the world due to ones individual will but, rather, becomes a "subject of cognition" to
a perception that is "Pure, will-less, timeless" (section 34)
where the essence, ideas, of the world are shown. Art is
the practical consequence of this brief aesthetic contemplation as it attempts to depict ones immersion with the
world, thus tries to depict the essence/pure ideas of the
world. Music, for Schopenhauer, was the purest form of
art because it was the one that depicted the will itself without it appearing as subject to the Principle of Sucient
Grounds, therefore as an individual object. According to
Daniel Albright, Schopenhauer thought that music was
the only art that did not merely copy ideas, but actually
embodied the will itself.[32]
He deemed music to be a timeless, universal language which is comprehended everywhere, and can imbue global enthusiasm, if in possession of a signicant
melody.[33]

2.3 Mathematics
Schopenhauers realist views on mathematics are evident
in his criticism of the contemporary attempts to prove the
parallel postulate in Euclidean geometry. Writing shortly
before the logical independence of the axiom was demonstrated by the discovery of hyperbolic geometry, and long
before the general theory of relativity revealed that it does
not express a property of physical space, Schopenhauer
criticized mathematicians for trying to prove from indirect concepts that which he held to be directly evident
from perception.
The Euclidean method of demonstration

2 THOUGHT
has brought forth from its own womb its most
striking parody and caricature in the famous
controversy over the theory of parallels, and
in the attempts, repeated every year, to prove
the eleventh axiom[34] (also known as the fth
postulate). The axiom asserts, and that indeed through the indirect criterion of a third
intersecting line, that two lines inclined to each
other (for this is the precise meaning of less
than two right angles), if produced far enough,
must meet. Now this truth is supposed to be
too complicated to pass as self-evident, and
therefore needs a proof; but no such proof
can be produced, just because there is nothing
more immediate.[35]

in order to pass over to the material and

empirical.[35]
This follows Kant's reasoning.[39]

2.4 Ethics

Schopenhauers moral theory proposed that only

compassion can drive moral acts. According to Schopenhauer, compassion alone is the good of the object of the
acts, that is, they cannot be inspired by either the prospect
of personal utility or the feeling of duty. Mankind can
also be guided by egoism and malice. Egotistic acts
are those guided by self-interest, desire for pleasure or
happiness. Schopenhauer believed most of our deeds
Throughout his writings,[36] Schopenhauer criticized the belong to this class. Acts of malice are dierent from
logical derivation of philosophies and mathematics from egotistic acts. As in the case of acts of compassion,
these do not target personal utility. Their aim is to cause
mere concepts, instead of from intuitive perceptions.
damage to others, independently of personal gains. He
believed, like Swami Vivekananda in the unity of all
In fact, it seems to me that the logical
with one-self and also believed that ego is the origin of
method is in this way reduced to an absurpain and conicts, that reduction of ego frames the moral
dity. But it is precisely through the controprinciples.[40]
versies over this, together with the futile attempts to demonstrate the directly certain as
merely indirectly certain, that the independence
2.4.1 Punishment
and clearness of intuitive evidence appear in
contrast with the uselessness and diculty of
logical proof, a contrast as instructive as it is
amusing. The direct certainty will not be admitted here, just because it is no merely logical certainty following from the concept, and
thus resting solely on the relation of predicate
to subject, according to the principle of contradiction. But that eleventh axiom regarding
parallel lines is a synthetic proposition a priori, and as such has the guarantee of pure, not
empirical, perception; this perception is just
as immediate and certain as is the principle
of contradiction itself, from which all proofs
originally derive their certainty. At bottom this
holds good of every geometrical theorem .
Although Schopenhauer could see no justication for trying to prove Euclids parallel postulate, he did see a reason
for examining another of Euclids axioms.[37]
It surprises me that the eighth axiom,[38]
Figures that coincide with one another are
equal to one another, is not rather attacked.
For "coinciding with one another" is either a
mere tautology, or something quite empirical,
belonging not to pure intuition or perception,
but to external sensuous experience. Thus it
presupposes mobility of the gures, but matter
alone is movable in space. Consequently, this
reference to coincidence with one another forsakes pure space, the sole element of geometry,

Schopenhauer, 1852

According to Schopenhauer, whenever we make a choice,

we assume as necessary that decision was preceded by
something from which it ensued, and which we call the
ground or reason, or more accurately the motive, of the
resultant action.[41] Choices are not made freely. Our

2.5

Psychology

actions are necessary and determined because every human being, even every animal, after the motive has appeared, must carry out the action which alone is in accordance with his inborn and immutable character.[42]
A denite action inevitably results when a particular motive inuences a persons given, unchangeable character.
The State, Schopenhauer claimed, punishes criminals in
order to prevent future crimes. It does so by placing beside every possible motive for committing a wrong a more
powerful motive for leaving it undone, in the inescapable
punishment. Accordingly, the criminal code is as complete a register as possible of counter-motives to all criminal actions that can possibly be imagined....[43]
...the law and its fulllment, namely punishment, are directed essentially to the future,
not to the past. This distinguishes punishment
from revenge, for revenge is motivated by what
has happened, and hence by the past as such.
All retaliation for wrong by inicting a pain
without any object for the future is revenge,
and can have no other purpose than consolation
for the suering one has endured by the sight of
the suering one has caused in another. Such
a thing is wickedness and cruelty, and cannot
be ethically justied. ...the object of punishment...is deterrence from crime.... Object and
purpose for the future distinguish punishment
from revenge, and punishment has this object
only when it is inicted in fulllment of a law.
Only in this way does it proclaim itself to be
inevitable and infallible for every future case;
and thus it obtains for the law the power to
deter....[43][44]

5
Seneca, Hobbes, Pufendorf, and Anselm Feuerbach.
Schopenhauer declared that their teaching was corrupted
by subsequent errors and therefore was in need of
clarication.[43]
2.4.2 God
Even though Schopenhauer ended his treatise on the freedom of human will with the postulate of everyones responsibility for their character and, consequently, acts
the responsibility following from ones being the Will as
noumenon (from which also all the characters and creations come)he considered his views incompatible with
theism, on grounds of fatalism and, more generally, responsibility for evil. In Schopenhauers philosophy the
dogmas of Christianity lose their signicance,[48] and the
Last Judgment is no longer preceded by anything"the
world is itself the Last Judgment on it.[49] Whereas God,
if he existed, would be evil.[50]

2.5 Psychology
Philosophers have not traditionally been impressed by the
tribulations of sex, but Schopenhauer addressed it and related concepts forthrightly:
...one ought rather to be surprised that a thing
[sex] which plays throughout so important a
part in human life has hitherto practically been
disregarded by philosophers altogether, and
lies before us as raw and untreated material.[51]

He gave a name to a force within man which he felt had

invariable precedence over reason: the Will to Live or
Should capital punishment be legal? For safeguarding Will to Life (Wille zum Leben), dened as an inherent
the lives of citizens, he asserted, capital punishment drive within human beings, and indeed all creatures, to
is therefore absolutely necessary.[45] The murderer, stay alive; a force which inveigles[30] us into reproducing.
wrote Schopenhauer, who is condemned to death according to the law must, it is true, be now used as a Schopenhauer refused to conceive of love as either triing
mere means, and with complete right. For public security, or accidental, but rather understood it to be an immensely
which is the principal object of the State, is disturbed by powerful force lying unseen within mans psyche and drahim; indeed it is abolished if the law remains unfullled. matically shaping the world:
The murderer, his life, his person, must be the means
The ultimate aim of all love aairs ... is more
of fullling the law, and thus of re-establishing pubimportant than all other aims in mans life; and
lic security.[46] Schopenhauer disagreed with those who
therefore it is quite worthy of the profound seriwould abolish capital punishment. Those who would
ousness with which everyone pursues it. What
like to abolish it should be given the answer: 'First reis decided by it is nothing less than the compomove murder from the world, and then capital punish[45]
sition of the next generation ...[52]
ment ought to follow.' "
People, according to Schopenhauer, cannot be improved.
They can only be inuenced by strong motives that over- These ideas foreshadowed the discovery of evolution,
power criminal motives. Schopenhauer declared that Freuds concepts of the libido and the unconscious mind,
[53]
real moral reform is not at all possible, but only deter- and evolutionary psychology in general.
ment from the deed....[45]
He claimed that this doctrine was not original with 2.6
him. Previously, it appeared in the writings of Plato,[47]

Political and social thought

2 THOUGHT
Schopenhauer, by his own admission, did not give much
thought to politics, and several times he writes proudly
of how little attention he had paid to political aairs of
[his] day. In a life that spanned several revolutions in
French and German government, and a few continentshaking wars, he did indeed maintain his aloof position
of minding not the times but the eternities. He wrote
many disparaging remarks about Germany and the Germans. A typical example is, For a German it is even
good to have somewhat lengthy words in his mouth, for
he thinks slowly, and they give him time to reect.[56]
Schopenhauer attributed civilizational primacy to the
northern white races due to their sensitivity and creativity (except for the ancient Egyptians and Hindus whom he
saw as equal):

Bust in Frankfurt am Main

2.6.1

Politics

The highest civilization and culture, apart

from the ancient Hindus and Egyptians, are
found exclusively among the white races; and
even with many dark peoples, the ruling caste
or race is fairer in colour than the rest and has,
therefore, evidently immigrated, for example,
the Brahmans, the Incas, and the rulers of the
South Sea Islands. All this is due to the fact that
necessity is the mother of invention because
those tribes that emigrated early to the north,
and there gradually became white, had to develop all their intellectual powers and invent
and perfect all the arts in their struggle with
need, want and misery, which in their many
forms were brought about by the climate. This
they had to do in order to make up for the parsimony of nature and out of it all came their
high civilization.[57]

Schopenhauers politics were, for the most part, an echo

of his system of ethics (the latter being expressed in Die
beiden Grundprobleme der Ethik, available in English as
two separate books, On the Basis of Morality and On the
Freedom of the Will). Ethics also occupies about one
quarter of his central work, The World as Will and RepDespite this, he was adamantly against diering treatresentation.
ment of races, was fervently anti-slavery, and supported
In occasional political comments in his Parerga and Par- the abolitionist movement in the United States. He dealipomena and Manuscript Remains, Schopenhauer de- scribes the treatment of "[our] innocent black brothers
scribed himself as a proponent of limited government. whom force and injustice have delivered into [the slaveWhat was essential, he thought, was that the state should masters] devilish clutches as belonging to the blackest
leave each man free to work out his own salvation", and pages of mankinds criminal record.[58]
so long as government was thus limited, he would prefer to be ruled by a lion than one of [his] fellow rats Schopenhauer additionally maintained a marked meta i.e., by a monarch, rather than a democrat. Schopen- physical and political anti-Judaism. Schopenhauer arhauer shared the view of Thomas Hobbes on the necessity gued that Christianity constituted a revolt against the
of the state, and of state action, to check the destructive materialistic basis of Judaism, exhibiting an Indiantendencies innate to our species. He also defended the inuenced ethics reecting the Aryan-Vedic theme of
independence of the legislative, judicial and executive spiritual self-conquest. This he saw as opposed to what
branches of power, and a monarch as an impartial ele- he held to be the ignorant drive toward earthly utopianism
ment able to practise justice (in a practical and everyday and superciality of a worldly Jewish spirit:
sense, not a cosmological one).[54] He declared monarchy as that which is natural to man for intelligence has
While all other religions endeavor to exalways under a monarchical government a much better
plain to the people by symbols the metaphyschance against its irreconcilable and ever-present foe, stuical signicance of life, the religion of the
pidity and disparaged republicanism as unnatural as it
Jews is entirely immanent and furnishes nothis unfavourable to the higher intellectual life and the arts
ing but a mere war-cry in the struggle with
and sciences.[55]
other nations.[59]

2.6
2.6.2

Political and social thought

Views on women

In Schopenhauers 1851 essay Of Women, he expressed his opposition to what he called TeutonicoChristian stupidity of reexive unexamined reverence
(abgeschmackten Weiberveneration)[60] for the female.
Schopenhauer wrote that Women are directly tted for
acting as the nurses and teachers of our early childhood
by the fact that they are themselves childish, frivolous and
short-sighted. He opined that women are decient in
artistic faculties and sense of justice, and expressed opposition to monogamy. Indeed, Rodgers and Thompson
in Philosophers Behaving Badly call Schopenhauer a
misogynist without rival in....Western philosophy. He
claimed that woman is by nature meant to obey. The essay does give some compliments, however: that women
are decidedly more sober in their judgment than [men]
are and are more sympathetic to the suering of others.
Schopenhauers controversial writings have inuenced
many, from Friedrich Nietzsche to nineteenth-century
feminists.[61] Schopenhauers biological analysis of the
dierence between the sexes, and their separate roles
in the struggle for survival and reproduction, anticipates some of the claims that were later ventured by
Schopenhauer at age 58 on 16 May 1846
sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists.[62]
After the elderly Schopenhauer sat for a sculpture portrait by Elisabet Ney, he told Richard Wagners friend
Malwida von Meysenbug, I have not yet spoken my last
word about women. I believe that if a woman succeeds
in withdrawing from the mass, or rather raising herself
above the mass, she grows ceaselessly and more than a
man.[63]
2.6.3

Heredity and eugenics

Schopenhauer believed that personality and intellect were

inherited. He quotes Horaces saying, From the brave
and good are the brave descended (Odes, iv, 4, 29)
and Shakespeares line from Cymbeline, Cowards father
cowards, and base things sire base (IV, 2) to reinforce
his hereditarian argument.[64] Mechanistically, Schopenhauer believed that a person inherits his level of intellect
through his mother, and personal character through ones
father.[65] This belief in heritability of traits informed
Schopenhauers view of love placing it at the highest
level of importance. For Schopenhauer the nal aim of
all love intrigues, be they comic or tragic, is really of more
importance than all other ends in human life. What it all
turns upon is nothing less than the composition of the next
generation.... It is not the weal or woe of any one individual, but that of the human race to come, which is here
at stake. This view of the importance for the species of
whom we choose to love was reected in his views on
eugenics or good breeding. Here Schopenhauer wrote:
With our knowledge of the complete unalterability both of character and of mental facul-

ties, we are led to the view that a real and thorough improvement of the human race might
be reached not so much from outside as from
within, not so much by theory and instruction
as rather by the path of generation. Plato had
something of the kind in mind when, in the
fth book of his Republic, he explained his plan
for increasing and improving his warrior caste.
If we could castrate all scoundrels and stick
all stupid geese in a convent, and give men of
noble character a whole harem, and procure
men, and indeed thorough men, for all girls of
intellect and understanding, then a generation
would soon arise which would produce a better
age than that of Pericles.[66]

In another context, Schopenhauer reiterated his

antidemocratic-eugenic thesis: If you want Utopian
plans, I would say: the only solution to the problem is the
despotism of the wise and noble members of a genuine
aristocracy, a genuine nobility, achieved by mating the
most magnanimous men with the cleverest and most
gifted women. This proposal constitutes my Utopia
and my Platonic Republic.[67] Analysts (e.g., Keith
Ansell-Pearson) have suggested that Schopenhauers
advocacy of anti-egalitarianism and eugenics inuenced
the neo-aristocratic philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche,
who initially considered Schopenhauer his mentor.[68]

8
2.6.4

2 THOUGHT
Animal welfare

As a consequence of his monistic philosophy, Schopenhauer was very concerned about the welfare of
animals.[69] For him, all individual animals, including humans, are essentially the same, being phenomenal
manifestations of the one underlying Will. The word
will designated, for him, force, power, impulse,
energy, and desire; it is the closest word we have that
can signify both the real essence of all external things
and also our own direct, inner experience. Since every
living thing possesses will, then humans and animals are
fundamentally the same and can recognize themselves in
each other.[70] For this reason, he claimed that a good
person would have sympathy for animals, who are our
fellow suerers.
Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may
be condently asserted that he who is cruel to
living creatures cannot be a good man.[71]

against the aims and ends of nature, and that in a matter that is all important and of the greatest concern to
her, it must in fact serve these very aims, although only
indirectly, as a means for preventing greater evils.[80]
Shrewdly anticipating the interpretive distortion, on the
part of the popular mind, of his attempted scientic explanation of pederasty as personal advocacy (when he
had otherwise described the act, in terms of spiritual
ethics, as an objectionable aberration), Schopenhauer
sarcastically concludes the appendix with the statement
that by expounding these paradoxical ideas, I wanted to
grant to the professors of philosophy a small favour, for
they are very disconcerted by the ever-increasing publicization of my philosophy which they so carefully concealed. I have done so by giving them the opportunity
of slandering me by saying that I defend and commend
pederasty.[81]

2.7 Intellectual interests and anities

2.7.1 Indology

Nothing leads more denitely to a recognition of the identity of the essential nature in
animal and human phenomena than a study of
zoology and anatomy.[72]
The assumption that animals are without
rights and the illusion that our treatment of
them has no moral signicance is a positively
outrageous example of Western crudity and
barbarity. Universal compassion is the only
guarantee of morality.[73]

Schopenhauer read the Latin translation of the

Upanishads which had been translated by French
writer Anquetil du Perron from the Persian translation
of Prince Dara Shikoh entitled Sirre-Akbar (The Great
Secret). He was so impressed by their philosophy that
he called them the production of the highest human
wisdom, and considered them to contain superhuman
conceptions. The Upanishads was a great source of
inspiration to Schopenhauer, and writing about them he
said:

In 1841, he praised the establishment, in London, of the

It is the most satisfying and elevating readSociety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and also
ing (with the exception of the original text)
the Animals Friends Society in Philadelphia. Schopenwhich is possible in the world; it has been the
hauer even went so far as to protest against the use of
solace of my life and will be the solace of my
the pronoun it in reference to animals because it led
death.[82]
to the treatment of them as though they were inanimate
things.[74] To reinforce his points, Schopenhauer referred
to anecdotal reports of the look in the eyes of a monkey It is well known that the book Oupnekhat (Upanishad)
who had been shot[75] and also the grief of a baby elephant always lay open on his table, and he invariably studied it
before sleeping at night. He called the opening up of Sanwhose mother had been killed by a hunter.[76]
skrit literature the greatest gift of our century, and preHe was very attached to his succession of pet poodles. dicted that the philosophy and knowledge of the UpanSchopenhauer criticized Spinozas[77] belief that animals ishads would become the cherished faith of the West.[83]
are to be used as a mere means for the satisfaction of
Schopenhauer was rst introduced to the 1802 Latin
humans.[78][79]
Upanishad translation through Friedrich Majer. They
met during the winter of 18131814 in Weimar at the
home of Schopenhauers mother according to the biog2.6.5 Views on homosexuality and pederasty
rapher Sanfranski. Majer was a follower of Herder,
In the third, expanded edition of The World as Will and and an early Indologist. Schopenhauer did not begin
Representation (1859), Schopenhauer added an appendix a serious study of the Indic texts, however, until the
to his chapter on the Metaphysics of Sexual Love. He summer of 1814. Sansfranski maintains that between
also wrote that homosexuality did have the benet of pre- 1815 and 1817, Schopenhauer had another important
venting ill-begotten children. Concerning this, he stated, cross-pollination with Indian thought in Dresden. This
"... the vice we are considering appears to work directly was through his neighbor of two years, Karl Christian

9
Friedrich Krause. Krause was then a minor and rather unorthodox philosopher who attempted to mix his own ideas
with that of ancient Indian wisdom. Krause had also mastered Sanskrit, unlike Schopenhauer, and the two developed a professional relationship. It was from Krause that
Schopenhauer learned meditation and received the closest
thing to expert advice concerning Indian thought.[84]
Most noticeable, in the case of Schopenhauers work,
was the signicance of the Chandogya Upanishad, whose
Mahavakya, Tat Tvam Asi is mentioned throughout The
World as Will and Representation.[85]

to see my doctrine in such close agreement with

a religion that the majority of men on earth
hold as their own, for this numbers far more
followers than any other. And this agreement
must be yet the more pleasing to me, inasmuch
as in my philosophizing I have certainly not been
under its inuence [emphasis added]. For up
till 1818, when my work appeared, there was
to be found in Europe only a very few accounts
of Buddhism.[93]

Buddhist philosopher Nishitani Keiji, however, sought

to distance Buddhism from Schopenhauer.[94] While
2.7.2 Buddhism
Schopenhauers philosophy may sound rather mystical
in such a summary, his methodology was resolutely
Schopenhauer noted a correspondence between his doc- empirical, rather than speculative or transcendental:
trines and the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.[86] Similarities centered on the principles that life involves sufPhilosophy ... is a science, and as such has
fering, that suering is caused by desire (tah), and that
no articles of faith; accordingly, in it nothing
the extinction of desire leads to liberation. Thus three of
can be assumed as existing except what is either
the four truths of the Buddha correspond to Schopenpositively given empirically, or demonstrated
hauers doctrine of the will.[87] In Buddhism, however,
through indubitable conclusions.[95]
while greed and lust are always unskillful, desire is ethically variable it can be skillful, unskillful, or neutral.[88] Also note:
For Schopenhauer, Will had ontological primacy over the
intellect; in other words, desire is understood to be prior
to thought. Schopenhauer felt this was similar to notions
of pururtha or goals of life in Vednta Hinduism.
In Schopenhauers philosophy, denial of the will is attained by either:
personal experience of an extremely great suering
that leads to loss of the will to live; or
knowledge of the essential nature of life in the world
through observation of the suering of other people.
However, Buddhist nirva is not equivalent to the condition that Schopenhauer described as denial of the
will. Nirva is not the extinguishing of the person
as some Western scholars have thought, but only the
extinguishing (the literal meaning of nirvana) of the
ames of greed, hatred, and delusion that assail a persons
character.[89] Occult historian Joscelyn Godwin (1945
) stated, It was Buddhism that inspired the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, and, through him, attracted
Richard Wagner.[90] This Orientalism reected the struggle of the German Romantics, in the words of Leon Poliakov, to free themselves from Judeo-Christian fetters.[91]
In contradistinction to Godwins claim that Buddhism inspired Schopenhauer, the philosopher himself made the
following statement in his discussion of religions:[92]
If I wished to take the results of my philosophy as the standard of truth, I should have
to concede to Buddhism pre-eminence over the
others. In any case, it must be a pleasure to me

This actual world of what is knowable,

in which we are and which is in us, remains both the material and the limit of our
consideration.[96]
The argument that Buddhism aected Schopenhauers
philosophy more than any other Dharmic faith loses more
credence when viewed in light of the fact that Schopenhauer did not begin a serious study of Buddhism until
after the publication of The World as Will and Representation in 1818.[97] Scholars have started to revise earlier views about Schopenhauers discovery of Buddhism.
Proof of early interest and inuence, however, appears
in Schopenhauers 1815/16 notes (transcribed and translated by Urs App) about Buddhism. They are included in
a recent case study that traces Schopenhauers interest in
Buddhism and documents its inuence.[98] Other scholarly work questions how similar Schopenhauers philosophy actually is to Buddhism.[99]

3 Inuences
Schopenhauer said he was inuenced by the Upanishads,
Immanuel Kant and Plato. References to Eastern philosophy and religion appear frequently in Schopenhauers
writing. As noted above, he appreciated the teachings
of the Buddha and even called himself a Buddhist.[100]
He said[101] that his philosophy could not have been conceived before these teachings were available.
Concerning the Upanishads and Vedas, he writes in The
World as Will and Representation:

10

4
If the reader has also received the benet
of the Vedas, the access to which by means
of the Upanishads is in my eyes the greatest
privilege which this still young century (1818)
may claim before all previous centuries, if then
the reader, I say, has received his initiation in
primeval Indian wisdom, and received it with
an open heart, he will be prepared in the very
best way for hearing what I have to tell him.
It will not sound to him strange, as to many
others, much less disagreeable; for I might, if
it did not sound conceited, contend that every one of the detached statements which constitute the Upanishads, may be deduced as a
necessary result from the fundamental thoughts
which I have to enunciate, though those deductions themselves are by no means to be found
there.[102]

CRITIQUE OF KANT AND HEGEL

4.1 Critique of the Kantian philosophy

Main article: Critique of the Kantian philosophy
See also: On the Basis of Morality and Schopenhauers
criticism of Kants schemata
Schopenhauer accepted Kants double-aspect of the universe the phenomenal (world of experience) and the
noumenal (the true world, independent of experience).
Some commentators suggest that Schopenhauer claimed
that the noumenon, or thing-in-itself, was the basis for
Schopenhauers concept of the will. Other commentators suggest that Schopenhauer considered will to be only
a subset of the thing-in-itself class, namely that which
we can most directly experience.[105]

Schopenhauers identication of the Kantian noumenon

(i.e., the actually existing entity) with what he termed
will deserves some explanation. The noumenon was
what Kant called the Ding an sich (the Thing in Itself),
Among Schopenhauers other inuences were:
the reality that is the foundation of our sensory and
[103]
Shakespeare,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, mental representations of an external world. In KanThomas Reid, Baruch Spinoza, Matthias Claudius, tian terms, those sensory and mental representations are
George Berkeley, David Hume, and Ren Descartes.[104] mere phenomena. Schopenhauer departed from Kant
in his description of the relationship between the phenomenon and the noumenon. According to Kant, thingsin-themselves ground the phenomenal representations in
our minds; Schopenhauer, on the other hand, believed
phenomena and noumena to be two dierent sides of the
4 Critique of Kant and Hegel
same coin. Noumena do not cause phenomena, but rather
phenomena are simply the way by which our minds perceive the noumena, according to the principle of sucient reason. This is explained more fully in Schopenhauers doctoral thesis, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sucient Reason.
Schopenhauers second major departure from Kants
epistemology concerns the body. Kants philosophy was
formulated as a response to the radical philosophical
skepticism of David Hume, who claimed that causality
could not be observed empirically. Schopenhauer begins
by arguing that Kants demarcation between external objects, knowable only as phenomena, and the Thing in Itself of noumenon, contains a signicant omission. There
is, in fact, one physical object we know more intimately
than we know any object of sense perception: our own
body.

Schopenhauer in March 1859

We know our human bodies have boundaries and occupy

space, the same way other objects known only through our
named senses do. Though we seldom think of our body
as a physical object, we know even before reection that
it shares some of an objects properties. We understand
that a watermelon cannot successfully occupy the same
space as an oncoming truck; we know that if we tried
to repeat the experiment with our own body, we would
obtain similar results we know this even if we do not
understand the physics involved.
We know that our consciousness inhabits a physical body,

4.2

Critique of Hegel

similar to other physical objects only known as phenomena. Yet our consciousness is not commensurate with our
body. Most of us possess the power of voluntary motion. We usually are not aware of the breathing of our
lungs or the beating of our heart unless somehow our attention is called to them. Our ability to control either
is limited. Our kidneys command our attention on their
schedule rather than one we choose. Few of us have any
idea what our liver is doing right now, though this organ
is as needful as lungs, heart, or kidneys. The conscious
mind is the servant, not the master, of these and other
organs; these organs have an agenda which the conscious
mind did not choose, and over which it has limited power.
When Schopenhauer identies the noumenon with the desires, needs, and impulses in us that we name will, what
he is saying is that we participate in the reality of an otherwise unachievable world outside the mind through will.
We cannot prove that our mental picture of an outside
world corresponds with a reality by reasoning; through
will, we know without thinking that the world can
stimulate us. We suer fear, or desire: these states arise
involuntarily; they arise prior to reection; they arise even
when the conscious mind would prefer to hold them at
bay. The rational mind is, for Schopenhauer, a leaf borne
along in a stream of pre-reective and largely unconscious
emotion. That stream is will, and through will, if not
through logic, we can participate in the underlying reality beyond mere phenomena. It is for this reason that
Schopenhauer identies the noumenon with what we call
our will.
In his criticism of Kant, Schopenhauer claimed that sensation and understanding are separate and distinct abilities. Yet, for Kant, an object is known through each of
them. Kant wrote: "... [T]here are two stems of human knowledge ... namely, sensibility and understanding, objects being given by the former [sensibility] and
thought by the latter [understanding].[106] Schopenhauer
disagreed. He asserted that mere sense impressions, not
objects, are given by sensibility. According to Schopenhauer, objects are intuitively perceived by understanding
and are discursively thought by reason (Kant had claimed
that (1) the understanding thinks objects through concepts and that (2) reason seeks the unconditioned or ultimate answer to why?"). Schopenhauer said that Kants
mistake regarding perception resulted in all of the obscurity and dicult confusion that is exhibited in the Transcendental Analytic section of his critique.

11
pretation of the biographer Diogenes Lartius from Lives
and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. In reference to
Platos Ideas, Schopenhauer quotes Lartius verbatim in
an explanatory footnote.
Diogenes Lartius (III, 12) Plato ideas in natura velut exemplaria dixit subsistere; cetera his esse similia, ad istarum similitudinem consistencia. (Plato teaches that the
Ideas exist in nature, so to speak, as patterns or prototypes, and that the remainder of things only resemble
them, and exist as their copies.)[107]

4.2 Critique of Hegel

Schopenhauer expressed his dislike for the philosophy of
his contemporary Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel many
times in his published works. The following quotations
are typical:
If I were to say that the so-called philosophy of
this fellow Hegel is a colossal piece of mystication which will yet provide posterity with an
inexhaustible theme for laughter at our times,
that it is a pseudo-philosophy paralyzing all
mental powers, stiing all real thinking, and,
by the most outrageous misuse of language,
putting in its place the hollowest, most senseless, thoughtless, and, as is conrmed by its
success, most stupefying verbiage, I should be
quite right.
Further, if I were to say that this summus
philosophus [...] scribbled nonsense quite unlike any mortal before him, so that whoever
could read his most eulogized work, the socalled Phenomenology of the Mind, without
feeling as if he were in a madhouse, would
qualify as an inmate for Bedlam, I should be
no less right.[108]
At rst Fichte and Schelling shine as the heroes
of this epoch; to be followed by the man who is
quite unworthy even of them, and greatly their
inferior in point of talent --- I mean the stupid
and clumsy charlatan Hegel.[109]

Lastly, Schopenhauer departed from Kant in how he in- In his Foreword to the rst edition of his work Die beiden
terpreted the Platonic ideas. In The World as Will and Grundprobleme der Ethik, Schopenhauer suggested that
he had shown Hegel to have fallen prey to the Post hoc
Representation Schopenhauer explicitly stated:
ergo propter hoc fallacy.
...Kant used the word [Idea] wrongly as
well as illegitimately, although Plato had already taken possession of it, and used it most
appropriately.

Schopenhauer suggested that Hegels works were lled

with castles of abstraction, and that Hegel used deliberately impressive but ultimately vacuous verbiage.[110] He
also thought that his glorication of church and state were
designed for personal advantage and had little to do with
Instead Schopenhauer relied upon the Neoplatonist inter- the search for philosophical truth.[110] For instance, the

12

6 INFLUENCE

Right Hegelians interpreted Hegel as viewing the Prussian state of his day as perfect and the goal of all history
up until then.[111]

Criticism of Schopenhauers personal life

The British philosopher and historian Bertrand Russell

deemed Schopenhauer an insincere person, because judging by his life:
He habitually dined well, at a good restaurant;
he had many trivial love-aairs, which were
sensual but not passionate; he was exceedingly
quarrelsome and unusually avaricious. ... It is
hard to nd in his life evidences of any virtue
except kindness to animals ... In all other respects he was completely selsh. It is dicult
to believe that a man who was profoundly convinced of the virtue of asceticism and resignation would never have made any attempt to embody his convictions in his practice.[112]
Bryan Magee points out that the answer to such shallow,
but not uncommon criticism is found in a quotation from
Schopenhauer:
It is therefore just as little necessary for the
saint to be a philosopher as for the philosopher to be a saint; just as it is not necessary
for a perfectly beautiful person to be a great
sculptor, or for a great sculptor to be himself
a beautiful person. In general, it is a strange
demand on a moralist that he should commend
no other virtue than that which he himself possesses. To repeat abstractly, universally, and
distinctly in concepts the whole inner nature of
the world, and thus to deposit it as a reected
image in permanent concepts always ready for
the faculty of reason, this and nothing else is
philosophy.[113]

Inuence

Schopenhauer has had a massive inuence upon later

thinkers, though more so in the arts (especially literature and music) and psychology than in philosophy. His
popularity peaked in the early twentieth century, especially during the Modernist era, and waned somewhat
thereafter. Nevertheless, a number of recent publications
have reinterpreted and modernised the study of Schopenhauer. His theory is also being explored by some modern philosophers as a precursor to evolutionary theory and
modern evolutionary psychology.[114]

Caricature of Schopenhauer by Wilhelm Busch (18321908)

Russian writer and philosopher Leo Tolstoy was greatly

inuenced by Schopenhauer. After reading Schopenhauers The World as Will and Representation, Tolstoy
gradually became converted to the ascetic morality upheld in that work as the proper spiritual path for the upper
classes: Do you know what this summer has meant for
me? Constant raptures over Schopenhauer and a whole
series of spiritual delights which I've never experienced
before. ... no student has ever studied so much on his
course, and learned so much, as I have this summer[115]
Richard Wagner, writing in his autobiography, remembered his rst impression that Schopenhauer left on him
(when he read World as Will and Representation):

Schopenhauers book was never completely out

of my mind, and by the following summer I had
studied it from cover to cover four times. It had
a radical inuence on my whole life.[116]

Wagner also commented on that serious mood, which

was trying to nd ecstatic expression created by
Schopenhauer inspired the conception of Tristan und
Isolde.[117] See also Inuence of Schopenhauer on Tristan
und Isolde.

7.1

Online

13
original German is Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung), 1818/1819, vol 2 1844
Vol. 1 Dover edition 1966, ISBN 978-0-48621761-1
Vol. 2 Dover edition 1966, ISBN 978-0-48621762-8
Peter Smith Publisher hardcover set 1969,
ISBN 978-0-8446-2885-1
Everyman Paperback combined abridged edition (290 p.) ISBN 978-0-460-87505-9
The Art of Being Right (Eristische Dialektik: Die
Kunst, Recht zu Behalten), 1831
On the Will in Nature (ber den Willen in der Natur),
1836 ISBN 978-0-85496-999-9

File:DAN-28a-Danzig-500MIL Mark (1923).jpg

Schopenhauer depicted on a 500 million Danzig
papiermark note (1923).
Friedrich Nietzsche owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading The World as Will and Representation and admitted that he was one of the few
philosophers that he respected, dedicating to him his essay Schopenhauer als Erzieher[118] one of his Untimely
Meditations.

On the Freedom of the Will (ber die Freiheit

des menschlichen Willens), 1839 ISBN 978-0-63114552-3
On the Basis of Morality (ber die Grundlage der
Moral), 1840
Parerga and Paralipomena, 1851; English Translation by E. F. J. Payne, Clarendon Press, Oxford,
1974, 2 Volumes:
Printings:

Jorge Luis Borges remarked that the reason he had never

attempted to write a systematic account of his world view,
despite his penchant for philosophy and metaphysics in
particular, was because Schopenhauer had already written
it for him.[119]

1974 Hardcover, by ISBN

Vol 1 and 2, ISBN 978-0-19519813-3,
Vol 1, ISBN
Vol 2, ISBN 978-0-19-824527-8,
1974/1980 Paperback, Vol 1, ISBN 9780-19-824634-3, Vol 2, ISBN 978-0-19824635-0,
2001 Paperback, Vol 1, ISBN 978-019-924220-7, Vol 2, ISBN 978-0-19924221-4

As a teenager, Ludwig Wittgenstein adopted Schopenhauers epistemological idealism. However, after his
study of the philosophy of mathematics, he rejected epistemological idealism for Gottlob Frege's conceptual realism. In later years, Wittgenstein was highly dismissive of
Schopenhauer, describing him as an ultimately shallow
thinker: Schopenhauer has quite a crude mind... where
real depth starts, his comes to an end.[12][120]

Essays and Aphorisms, being excerpts from

Volume 2 of Parerga und Paralipomena, selected and translated by R J Hollingdale, with
Introduction by R J Hollingdale, Penguin Classics, 1970, Paperback 1973: ISBN 978-0-14044227-4

The philosopher Gilbert Ryle read Schopenhauers works

as a student, but later largely forgot them, only to unwittingly recycle ideas from Schopenhauer in his The Concept of Mind.[121]

Selected bibliography

Arthur Schopenhauer, Manuscript Remains, Volume

II, Berg Publishers Ltd., ISBN 978-0-85496-539-7

On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sucient

Reason (ber die vierfache Wurzel des Satzes vom
7.1
zureichenden Grunde), 1813

Online

On Vision and Colors (ber das Sehn und die Farben), 1816 ISBN 978-0-85496-988-3

Works by Arthur Schopenhauer at Project Gutenberg

The World as Will and Representation (alternatively

translated in English as The World as Will and Idea;

Illustrated version of the Art of Being Right and

links to logic and sophisms used by the stratagems.

14

The Art Of Controversy (Die Kunst, Recht zu behalten). (bilingual) [The Art of Being Right]
Studies in Pessimism audiobook from LibriVox.
The World as Will and Idea at Internet Archive:
Volume I;
Volume II;
Volume III.
On the fourfold root of the principle of sucient reason and On the will in nature. Two essays:
Internet Archive. Translated by Mrs. Karl
Hillebrand (1903).
Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection. Reprinted by Cornell University Library Digital Collections
Facsimile edition of Schopenhauers manuscripts in
SchopenhauerSource
Essays of Schopenhauer

See also

REFERENCES

[5] Studies in Pessimism audiobook from LibriVox.

[6] David A. Leeming, Kathryn Madden, Stanton Marlan, ed.
(2009). Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion, Volume
2. Springer. p. 824. ISBN 978-0-387-71801-9. A more
accurate statement might be that for a German rather
than a French or British writer of that time Schopenhauer was an honest and open atheist.
[7] Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, Vol. 1, trans. E. Payne, (New York: Dover Publishing Inc., 1969), Vol. 2, Ch. 50.
[8] Dale Jacquette, ed. (2007). Schopenhauer, Philosophy
and the Arts. Cambridge University Press. p. 22. ISBN
978-0-521-04406-6. For Kant, the mathematical sublime, as seen for example in the starry heavens, suggests to
imagination the innite, which in turn leads by subtle turns
of contemplation to the concept of God. Schopenhauers
atheism will have none of this, and he rightly observes that
despite adopting Kants distinction between the dynamical and mathematical sublime, his theory of the sublime,
making reference to the struggles and suerings of struggles and suerings of Will, is unlike Kants.
[9] See the book-length study about oriental inuences on
the genesis of Schopenhauers philosophy by Urs App:
Schopenhauers Compass. An Introduction to Schopenhauers Philosophy and its Origins. Wil: UniversityMedia,
2014 (ISBN 978-3-906000-03-9)

Antinatalism, a position advocated by Schopenhauer

[10] B. R. Hergenhahn (2009). An Introduction to the Histhat one would be better o not having been born
God in Buddhism
Massacre of the Innocents (Guido Reni)
Misotheism

tory of Psychology (6th ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 216.

ISBN 978-0-495-50621-8. Although Schopenhauer was
an atheist, he realized that his philosophy of denial had
been part of several great religions; for example, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Mortal coil

[11] Addressed in: Cate, Curtis. Friedrich Nietzsche. Chapter

7.

Nihilism

[12] Culture & Value, p.24, 19334

9
9.1

References
Footnotes

[1] John Gray: Forget everything you know Proles, People. London: The Independent. 3 September 2002.
Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved
12 March 2010.
[2] Arthur Schopenhauer (2004). Essays and Aphorisms.
Penguin Classics. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-14-044227-4.
[3] The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary. 'Schopenhauer': Oxford University Press. 1991. p. 1298. ISBN
978-0-19-861248-3.
[4] Arthur Schopenhauer (2004). Essays and Aphorisms.
Penguin Classics. pp. 2236. ISBN 978-0-14-0442274. but there has been none who tried with so great a
show of learning to demonstrate that the pessimistic outlook is justied, that life itself is really bad. It is to this end
that Schopenhauers metaphysic of will and idea exists.

[13] Albert Einstein in Mein Glaubensbekenntnis (August

1932): I do not believe in free will. Schopenhauers
words: 'Man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what
he wants,[Der Mensch kann wohl tun, was er will, aber er
kann nicht wollen, was er will]' accompany me in all situations throughout my life and reconcile me with the actions of others, even if they are rather painful to me. This
awareness of the lack of free will keeps me from taking
myself and my fellow men too seriously as acting and deciding individuals, and from losing my temper. Schopenhauers clearer, actual words were: You can do what you
will, but in any given moment of your life you can will
only one denite thing and absolutely nothing other than
that one thing. [Du kannst tun was du willst: aber du
kannst in jedem gegebenen Augenblick deines Lebens nur
ein Bestimmtes wollen und schlechterdings nichts anderes
als dieses eine.] On the Freedom of the Will, Ch. II.
[14] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[15] Schopenhauer, Arthur; Gnter Zller; Eric F. J. Payne
(1999). Chronology. Prize Essay on the Freedom of the
Will (Cambridge University Press). pp. xxx. ISBN 9780-521-57766-3.

9.1

Footnotes

[16] Safranski (1990) page 12. There was in the fathers life
some dark and vague source of fear which later made him
hurl himself to his death from the attic of his house in
Hamburg.
[17] Cartwright, David E. (2010). Schopenhauer: a Biography.
End of 2nd paragraph: Cambridge University Press. p.
30. ISBN 978-0-521-82598-6.
[18] A Schopenhauer Timeline. Reocities.com. Retrieved
12 March 2010.
[19] Liukkonen, Petri. Arthur Schopenhauer. Books and
Writers (kirjasto.sci.). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015.
[20] Schopenhauer, Arthur. Authors preface to On The
Fourfold Root of the Principle of sucient reason. Page
1. On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sucient
Reason
[21] Addressed in: Russell, Bertrand (1945).
[22] Rudiger Safranski, Rdiger Safranski, Ewald Osers (1
September 1991). Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of
Philosophy. pp. 2712. ISBN 978-0-674-79276-0.
[23] Safranski (1990), Chapter 19
[24] Magee, Bryan (1997). The Philosophy of Schopenhauer.
Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-19823723-5.
[25] The Leuven Philosophy Newsletter (PDF). Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven. pp. 4243. But an examination of
his life reveals a yearning for marriage frustrated by a train
of rejections. In the year 1831, Schopenhauer fell in love
with a girl named Flora Weiss. At a boat party in Germany
he made his advance by oering her a bunch of grapes.
Floras diary records this event as follows: I didnt want
the grapes because old Schopenhauer had touched them,
so I let them slide, quite gently into the water. Apparently,
she was underwhelmed.
[26] Schopenhauer:". Courseweb.stthomas.edu. Retrieved 12
March 2010.

15

[32] Daniel Albright, Modernism and Music, 2004, page 39,

footnote 34
[33] Schopenhauer, Arthur (1970). Essays and Aphorisms.
'10': Penguin Classics. p. 162. ISBN 0-14-044227-8.
[34] What Schopenhauer calls the eleventh axiom is Euclids
Fifth Postulate.
[35] The World as Will and Representation, vol. 2, chap. 13
[36] I wanted in this way to stress and demonstrate the great
dierence, indeed opposition, between knowledge of perception and abstract or reected knowledge. Hitherto this
dierence has received too little attention, and its establishment is a fundamental feature of my philosophy"
Ibid., chap. 7.
[37] This comment by Schopenhauer was called an acute observation by Sir Thomas L. Heath. In his translation of
The Elements, vol. 1, Book I, Note on Common Notion 4, Heath made this judgment and also noted that
Schopenhauers remark was a criticism in advance of
Helmholtz' theory. Helmholtz had maintained that geometry requires us to assume the actual existence of rigid
bodies and their free mobility in space " and is therefore
dependent on mechanics.
[38] What Schopenhauer calls the eighth axiom is Euclids
Common Notion 4.
[39] Motion of an object in space does not belong in a pure
science, and consequently not in geometry. For the fact
that something is movable cannot be cognized a priori, but
can be cognized only through experience. (Kant, Critique
of Pure Reason, B 155, Note)
[40] Barua, edited by Arati; Gerhard, Michael; Kossler,
Matthias (2012). Understanding Schopenhauer through
the prism of Indian culture philosophy, religion, and Sanskrit literature (1. Au. ed.). Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 187.
ISBN 9783110271584.

[27] Full text of Selected Essays Of Schopenhauer"".

Archive.org. Retrieved 12 March 2010.

[41] Arthur Schopenhauer (1974). On the Fourfold Root of the

Principle of Sucient Reason. Open Court Publishing. p.
212. ISBN 978-0-87548-201-9.

[28] Schopenhauer: his life and philosophy.H Zimmern 1932

G. Allen & Unwin ltd

[42] On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sucient Reason,

49.

[29] The reality is what Schopenhauer calls the Will, the

Will to Live. Letter to Richard C. Lyon, 1 August
1949, George Santayana, The Letters of George Santayana, Scribners, New York, 1955
[30] The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary. 'Schopenhauer': Oxford University Press. 1991. p. 1298. ISBN
978-0-19-861248-3.
[31] But like Fichte, he rejects the Kantian claim that the
thing-in-itself as an unknowable substratum of experience. Schopenhauers argument is that the thing in-itself
in Kant is an incoherent sense of object: it is the opposite
to objects, and yet it is said to be an object-in-itself: the
phantom of a dream.

[43] Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, Vol.

I, 62.
[44] Paul Re, in his The Origin of Moral Sensation, reected
Schopenhauers concerns when he wrote: The feeling of
justice thus arises out of two errors, namely, because the
punishments inicted by authorities and educators appear
as acts of retribution, and because people believe in the
freedom of the will.
[45] The World as Will and Representation, Vol.
XLVII.

II, Ch.

[46] The World as Will and Representation, Vol. I, 62.

16

[47] "...he who attempts to punish in accordance with reason

does not retaliate on account of the past wrong (for he
could not undo something which has been done) but for
the sake of the future, so that neither the wrongdoer himself, nor others who see him being punished, will do wrong
again. Plato, "Protagoras", 324 B. Plato wrote that punishment should be an example to other men not to offend. Plato, "Laws", Book IX, 863.
[48] ...for they require [about Judaism] a man to come into
the world as a moral blank, so that, in virtue of an inconceivable free will (...) he may choose whether he is to be
an angel or a devil, or anything else that may lie between
the two. (On Human Nature, c. 3).
[49] A. Schopenhauer, On Human Nature, c. 3 (Free-Will
and Fatalism). Read online
[50] There; the only Schopenhauers explanation for the creation of the world would be the amusement of its manufacturer.
[51] Schopenhauer, Arthur. Supplements to the Fourth Book
of The World as Will and Representation, Page 338
The World as Will and Representation/Supplements to the
Fourth Book
[52] Schopenhauer, Arthur. Supplements to the Fourth Book
of The World as Will and Representation. Page 340
The World as Will and Representation/Supplements to the
Fourth Book
[53] Nearly a century before Freud... in Schopenhauer there
is, for the rst time, an explicit philosophy of the unconscious and of the body. Safranski pg. 345.
[54] The World as Will and Representation, Vol. 2, Ch. 47
[55] s:Government (Schopenhauer)
[56] The World as Will and Representation, Vol. 2, Ch. 12
[57] Parerga and Paralipomena, Volume II, Section 92
[58] Parerga and Paralipomena, On Ethics, Sec. 5
[59] Fragments for the history of philosophy, Parerga and
Paralipomena, Volume I.
[60] "ber die Weiber,369.
[61] Feminism and the Limits of Equality PA Cain Ga. L.
Rev., 1989
[62] Julian Young (23 June 2005). Schopenhauer. Psychology
Press. p. 242. ISBN 978-0-415-33346-7.
[63] Safranski (1990), Chapter 24. Page 348.
[64] Payne, The World as Will and Representation, Vol. II, p.
519
[65] On the Suering of the World, (1970), Page 35. Penguin
Books-Great Ideas
[66] Schopenhauer, Arthur (1969). E. F. J. Payne, ed. The
World as Will and Representation II. New York: Dover
Publications. p. 527. ISBN 978-0-486-21762-8.

REFERENCES

[67] Essays and Aphorisms, trans. R.J. Hollingdale, Middlesex:

London, 1970, p. 154
[68] Nietzsche and modern German thought [PDF] from homelinux.org. K Ansell-Pearson 1991 Psychology Press
[69] Christina Gerhardt, Thinking With: Animals in
Schopenhauer, Horkheimer and Adorno. Critical Theory
and Animals. Ed. John Sanbonmatsu. Lanham: Rowland, 2011. 137157.
[70] Unlike the intellect, it [the Will] does not depend on the
perfection of the organism, but is essentially the same in
all animals as that which is known to us so intimately. Accordingly, the animal has all the emotions of humans, such
as joy, grief, fear, anger, love, hatred, strong desire, envy,
and so on. The great dierence between human and animal rests solely on the intellects degrees of perfection.
On the Will in Nature, Physiology and Pathology.
[71] On the basis of morality, 19
[72] Schopenhauer, Arthur (1994). Philosophical Writings.
London: Continuum. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-8264-07290.
[73] Ryder, Richard (2000). Animal Revolution: Changing Attitudes Towards Speciesism. Oxford: Berg Publishers. p.
57. ISBN 978-1-85973-330-1.
[74] "...in English all animals are of the neuter gender and so
are represented by the pronoun 'it,' just as if they were
inanimate things. The eect of this artice is quite revolting, especially in the case of primates, such as dogs,
monkeys, and the like.... On the basis of morality, 19.
[75] I recall having read of an Englishman who, while hunting
in India, had shot a monkey; he could not forget the look
which the dying animal gave him, and since then had never
again red at monkeys. On the basis of morality, 19.
[76] "[Sir William Harris] describes how he shot his rst elephant, a female. The next morning he went to look for
the dead animal; all the other elephants had ed from the
neighborhood except a young one, who had spent the night
with its dead mother. Forgetting all fear, he came toward
the sportsmen with the clearest and liveliest evidence of
inconsolable grief, and put his tiny trunk round them in
order to appeal to them for help. Harris says he was then
lled with real remorse for what he had done, and felt as
if he had committed a murder. On the basis of morality,
19.
[77] His contempt for animals, who, as mere things for our
use, are declared by him to be without rights,...in conjunction with Pantheism, is at the same time absurd and
abominable. The World as Will and Representation, Vol.
2, Chapter 50.
[78] Spinoza, Ethics, Pt. IV, Prop. XXXVII, Note I.: Still I
do not deny that beasts feel: what I deny is, that we may
not consult our own advantage and use them as we please,
treating them in a way which best suits us; for their nature
is not like ours.... This is the exact opposite of Schopenhauers doctrine. Also, ibid., Appendix, 26, whatsoever
there be in nature beside man, a regard for our advantage
does not call on us to preserve, but to preserve or destroy

9.1

Footnotes

according to its various capacities, and to adapt to our use

as best we may.
[79] Such are the matters which I engage to prove in Prop.
xviii of this Part, whereby it is plain that the law against the
slaughtering of animals is founded rather on vain superstition and womanish pity than on sound reason. The rational
quest of what is useful to us further teaches us the necessity of associating ourselves with our fellow-men, but not
with beasts, or things, whose nature is dierent from our
own; we have the same rights in respect to them as they
have in respect to us. Nay, as everyones right is dened
by his virtue, or power, men have far greater rights over
beasts than beasts have over men. Still I arm that beasts
feel. But I also arm that we may consult our own advantage and use them as we please, treating them in the way
which best suits us; for their nature is not like ours, and
their emotions are naturally dierent from human emotions. Ethics, Part 4, Prop. 37, Note 1.
[80] Schopenhauer 1969, p. 566. He wrote that only those who
were too old or too young to reproduce strong, healthy
children would resort to pederasty (Schopenhauer considered pederasty to be in itself a vice)."The World as Will
and Representation: Volume Two. Dover
[81] Schopenhauer 1969, p. 567
[82] Clarke, John James (1997). Oriental enlightenment. Routledge. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-415-13376-0.
[83] Dutt, Purohit Bhagavan. Western Indologists: A Study
in Motives. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
[84] Christopher McCoy, 34
[85] Christopher McCoy, 5456

17

in desires, and that salvation can be attained by the extinction of desires. These three 'truths of the Buddha' are mirrored closely in the essential structure of the doctrine of
the will (On this, see Dorothea W. Dauer, Schopenhauer
as Transmitter of Buddhist Ideas. Note also the discussion
by Bryan Magee, The Philosophy of Schopenhauer, pp.
1415, 31621). Janaway, Christopher, Self and World
in Schopenhauers Philosophy, p. 28 f.
[93] The World as Will and Representation, Vol. 2, Ch. 17
[94] Artistic detachment in Japan and the West: psychic distance
in comparative aesthetics. S Odin 2001 Univ of Hawaii
Press
[95] Parerga & Paralipomena, vol. I, p. 106., trans. E.F.J.
Payne.
[96] World as Will and Representation, vol. I, p. 273, trans.
E.F.J. Payne.
[97] Christopher McCoy, 3
[98] App, Urs Arthur Schopenhauer and China. Sino-Platonic
Papers Nr. 200 (April 2010) (PDF, 8.7 Mb PDF, 164 p.;
Schopenhauers early notes on Buddhism reproduced in
Appendix). This study provides an overview of the actual
discovery of Buddhism by Schopenhauer.
[99] Hutton, Kenneth Compassion in Schopenhauer and ntideva. Journal of Buddhist Ethics Vol. 21 (2014)
[100] Abelsen, Peter (1993). Schopenhauer and Buddhism.
Philosophy East & West, 44:2 p. 255. Retrieved on: 18
August 2007.

[86] Abelson, Peter (April 1993). Schopenhauer and Bud- [101] Schopenhauer and Buddhism. P Abelsen, H Amsterdam,
A Schopenhauer Philosophy East & West, 1993
dhism. Philosophy East and West Volume 43, Number
2, pp. 255278. University of Hawaii Press. Retrieved on:
[102] The World as Will and Representation Preface to the rst
12 April 2008.
edition, p. xiii
[87] Janaway, Christopher, Self and World in Schopenhauers
[103] Magee, Bryan (1977). The Philosophy of Schopenhauer.
Philosophy, p. 28 f.
Oxford University Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-19[88] David Burton, Buddhism, Knowledge and Liberation:
823723-5.
A Philosophical Study. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004,
page 22.
[104] Schopenhauer and the Cartesian Tradition. T Humphrey
Journal of the History of Philosophy, 1981 muse.jhu.edu
[89] John J. Holder, Early Buddhist Discourses. Hackett Publishing Company, 2006, page xx.
[105] Bryan Magee, Misunderstanding Schopenhauer, Institute
of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London,
[90] Godwin, J: Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism,
1990, ISBN 978-0-85457-148-2
and Nazi Survival, page 38. Adventures Unlimited Press,
1996, ISBN 978-0-932813-35-0

[106] Critique of Pure Reason, A 15

[91] Arktos, p. 38.

[107] McCoy, Christopher Patrick. 2009. Thou Art That:
[92] Schopenhauer is often said to be the rst, or indeed the
Schopenhauers Philosophy and the Chandogya Upanonly, modern Western philosopher of any note to attempt
ishad. Masters thesis, James Madison University: 1013.
any integration of his work with Eastern ways of thinking. That he was the rst is surely true, but the claim that [108] On the Basis of Morality, pp. 1516.
he was inuenced by Indian thought needs some qualication. There is a remarkable correspondence, at least in [109] On the Basis of Morality, p. 35.
broad terms, between some of the central Schopenhauerian doctrines and Buddhism: notably in the views that [110] Philosophy: Pseudophilosophy. Orientalia.org. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
empirical existence is suering, that suering originates

18

10 FURTHER READING

[111] "... the Hegelians who, in complete unsmiling seriousness, were airing the question of what the further content of world history could possibly be, now that in the
Hegelian philosophy the world spirit had reached the goal,
the knowledge of itself. Safranski, p. 256.
[112] Russell, Bertrand (1946). HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY. Start of 2nd paragraph: George Allen and Unwin LTD. p. 786.
[113] The Philosophy of Schopenhauer, Oxford University
Press, pg 211
[114] In the book Straw Dogs, John Gray upheld Schopenhauer
as one of the few philosophers who has dedicated himself
to studying Eastern philosophy as well as Western philosophy. The book argues against free will, and states that
humans have much more in common with animals than is
commonly admitted in the West. Schopenhauer is praised
for his attitude towards animals, and for having addressed
the brutality of much of human life.
[115] Tolstoys Letter to A.A. Fet, August 30, 1869
[116] Kimball, Roger. Schopenhauers world. The New Criterion, 1985
[117] My life.
[118] Schopenhauer as Educator
[119] Magee 1997, p. 413.
[120] Malcolm, Norman. Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir.
Oxford University Press, 1958, page 6
[121] Magee, Bryan (1997). Confessions of a Philosopher., Ch.
16

9.2

Bibliography

Albright, Daniel (2004) Modernism and Music: An

Anthology of Sources. University of Chicago Press.
ISBN 978-0-226-01267-4
Hannan, Barbara, The Riddle of the World: A Reconsideration of Schopenhauers Philosophy (Oxford, OUP, 2009)
Magee, Bryan, Confessions of a Philosopher, Random House, 1998, ISBN 978-0-375-50028-2.
Chapters 20, 21
Safranski, Rdiger (1990) Schopenhauer and the
Wild Years of Philosophy. Harvard University Press,
ISBN 978-0-674-79275-3; orig. German Schopenhauer und Die wilden Jahre der Philosophie, Carl
Hanser Verlag (1987)
The Living Thoughts of Schopenhauer, Thomas
Mann editor, Longmans Green & Co., 1939

10 Further reading
10.1 Biographies
Cartwright, David. Schopenhauer: A Biography,
Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0521-82598-6
Frederick Copleston, Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher of pessimism (Burns, Oates & Washbourne,
1946)
O.F.Damm, Arthur Schopenhauer eine Biographie, (Reclam, 1912)
Kuno Fischer, Arthur Schopenhauer (Heidelberg:
Winter, 1893); revised as Schopenhauers Leben,
Werke und Lehre (Heidelberg: Winter, 1898).
Eduard Grisebach, Schopenhauer Geschichte
seines Lebens (Berlin: Hofmann, 1876).
D.W. Hamlyn, Schopenhauer, London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul (1980, 1985)
Heinrich Hasse, Schopenhauer. (Reinhardt, 1926)
Arthur Hbscher, Arthur Schopenhauer Ein
Lebensbild (Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1938).
Thomas Mann, Schopenhauer (Bermann-Fischer,
1938)
Matthews, Jack, Schopenhauers Will: Das Testament, Nine Point Publishing, 2015. ISBN 9780985827885. A recent creative biography by philosophical novelist Jack Matthews.
Rdiger Safranski, Schopenhauer und die wilden
Jahre der Philosophie Eine Biographie, hard cover
Carl Hanser Verlag, Mnchen 1987, ISBN 978-3446-14490-3, pocket edition Fischer: ISBN 978-3596-14299-6.
Rdiger Safranski, Schopenhauer and the Wild
Years of Philosophy, trans. Ewald Osers (London:
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989)
Walther Schneider, Schopenhauer Eine Biographie
(Vienna: Bermann-Fischer, 1937).
William Wallace, Life of Arthur Schopenhauer
(London: Scott, 1890; repr., St. Clair Shores,
Mich.: Scholarly Press, 1970)
Helen Zimmern, Arthur Schopenhauer: His Life and
His Philosophy (London: Longmans, Green & Co,
1876)

19

10.2

Other books

App, Urs. Arthur Schopenhauer and China. SinoPlatonic Papers Nr. 200 (April 2010) (PDF, 8.7 Mb
PDF, 164 p.). Contains extensive appendixes which
include transcriptions and English translations of
Schopenhauers early notes about Buddhism and Indian philosophy.
Atwell, John. Schopenhauer on the Character of the
World, The Metaphysics of Will.
--------, Schopenhauer, The Human Character.
Edwards, Anthony. An Evolutionary Epistemological Critique of Schopenhauers Metaphysics. 123
Books, 2011.
Copleston, Frederick, Schopenhauer: Philosopher
of Pessimism, 1946 (reprinted London: Search
Press, 1975).

Luchte, James, 2009, "The Body of Sublime Knowledge: The Aesthetic Phenomenology of Arthur
Schopenhauer," Heythrop Journal, Volume 50,
Number 2, pp. 228242.
Mazard, Eisel, 2005, "Schopenhauer and the Empirical Critique of Idealism in the History of Ideas."
On Schopenhauers (debated) place in the history of
European philosophy and his relation to his predecessors.
Moges, Awet, 2006, "Schopenhauers Philosophy."
Galileian Library.
Sangharakshita, 2004, "Schopenhauer and aesthetic
appreciation."
Young, Christopher; Brook, Andrew (1994).
Schopenhauer and Freud. International Journal of
Psychoanalysis 75: 10118. PMID 8005756.
Oxenfords Iconoclasm in German Philosophy,
(See p. 388)

Gardiner, Patrick, 1963. Schopenhauer. Penguin

Books.
--------, Schopenhauer: A Very Short introduction.
Janaway, Christopher, 2003. Self and World
in Schopenhauers Philosophy. Oxford University
Press. ISBN 978-0-19-825003-6
Magee, Bryan, The Philosophy of Schopenhauer,
Oxford University Press (1988, reprint 1997). ISBN
978-0-19-823722-8
Mannion, Gerard, Schopenhauer, Religion and
Morality The Humble Path to Ethics, Ashgate
Press, New Critical Thinking in Philosophy Series,
2003, 314pp.
Trottier, Danick. Linuence de la philosophie
schopenhauerienne dans la vie et loeuvre de Richard
Wagner ; et, Quest-ce qui sduit, obsde, magntise
le philosophe dans lart des sons? deux tudes en esthtique musicale, Universit du Qubec Montral,
Dpartement de musique, 2000.
Zimmern, Helen, Arthur Schopenhauer, his Life and
Philosophy, London, Longman, and Co., 1876.

10.3

Articles

Abelson, Peter (1993). Schopenhauer and Buddhism. Philosophy East and West 43 (2): 25578.
doi:10.2307/1399616. JSTOR 1399616.
Jimnez, Camilo, 2006, "Tagebuch eines
Ehrgeizigen:
Arthur Schopenhauers Studienjahre in Berlin," Avinus Magazin (in German).

11 External links
Works by Arthur Schopenhauer at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Arthur Schopenhauer at Internet
Archive
Works by Arthur Schopenhauer at LibriVox (public
domain audiobooks)
Arthur Schopenhauer entry by Robert Wicks in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Arthur Schopenhauer an article by Mary Troxell in
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2011
Schopenhauersource: Reproductions of Schopenhauers manuscripts
Kants philosophy as rectied by Schopenhauer
Timeline of German Philosophers
A Quick Introduction to Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer at Find a Grave
Ross, Kelley L., 1998, "Arthur Schopenhauer
(17881860)." Two short essays, on Schopenhauers
life and work, and on his dim view of academia.

20

12

12
12.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Arthur Schopenhauer Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer?oldid=700362994 Contributors: Magnus Manske,

Kpjas, MichaelTinkler, Derek Ross, Brion VIBBER, Eloquence, Bryan Derksen, Szopen, The Anome, LarsErikKolden, Space Cadet,
Zoe, Mswake, Jaknouse, R Lowry, Edward, Mike Sarfati, Paul Barlow, DrFreud, BrianHansen~enwiki, Gdarin, Nixdorf, MartinHarper,
Gabbe, Damnedkingdom, Menchi, GTBacchus, Delirium, Ihcoyc, Docu, Snoyes, Jebba, , Bogdangiusca, BenKovitz, Poor
Yorick, Rossami, Andres, Jiang, Samw, Astudent, John K, Frieda, RodC, RickK, Dysprosia, Radgeek, Tpbradbury, Maximus Rex, Hyacinth, Andy Fugard, Mackensen, Nnh, Johnleemk, Caius2ga, Dimadick, Robbot, Fredrik, Chris 73, Goethean, Mirv, Blainster, Halibutt,
Sunray, Wikibot, Cautious, Lupo, Asparagus, Helfrich~enwiki, Cyrius, Lysy, Snobot, Connelly, Giftlite, Dbenbenn, Yeti~enwiki, Kenny
sh, Rj, Fleminra, Curps, Dagestan, Matthead, Chameleon, Bobblewik, Edcolins, T.Ho~enwiki, LordSimonofShropshire, Andycjp, Sca,
Ruy Lopez, Quadell, Antandrus, Mukerjee, Emax, Phil Sandifer, Balcer, Tothebarricades.tk, Zfr, Karl-Henner, Fratley, Sam Hocevar,
Burschenschafter, Robin klein, StephenFerg, Schwartz und Weiss, ELApro, Grstain, Eep, Lucidish, Simonides, DanielCD, Pasquale,
Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Rhobite, Tere, FranksValli, ThomasK, Invictus~enwiki, Pie4all88, Michael Zimmermann, Bumhoolery,
Paul August, Bender235, ESkog, Zy26, CanisRufus, Mr. Billion, Putrescent stench, Vecrumba, -jkb-, Bill Thayer, Guettarda, Taarten,
Whosyourjudas, Meggar, Smalljim, Viriditas, George.dickeson, Darwinek, Tresoldi, Xideum, Amerindianarts, Merope, Knucmo2, Jumbuck, MatthewEHarbowy, Supine, Mmmready, Wikidea, Apoc2400, Fordan, Garzo, Sciurin, SteinbDJ, Ghirlandajo, Crosbiesmith, Nuno
Tavares, Mel Etitis, FeanorStar7, RHaworth, Robert K S, Ruud Koot, Orz, Je3000, Marcus22, Newcrusade, Stefanomione, Graham87,
BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Shauri, Koavf, Xrm0, Cooldry, Jamesrskemp, Amire80, HannsEwald, Golija~enwiki, Olessi, FlavrSavr, Bidouleroux,
FlaBot, Moskvax, JdforresterBot, SouthernNights, John Z, Ewlyahoocom, Witkacy, Born2cycle, Rexru, Akhenaten0, Mcavoys, Volunteer Marek, Korg, Bgwhite, Hall Monitor, EamonnPKeane, Wavelength, Hairy Dude, Pigman, DanMS, Grubber, Rintrah, KSchutte, Wimt,
K.C. Tang, EWS23, Stephen Burnett, Jgrantdu, Trovatore, BirgitteSB, E rulez, Denihilonihil, Molobo, Epa101, Wangi, Alarob, Jrajesh,
Zzuuzz, Jan J. Van Biervliet, Nikkimaria, Arthur Rubin, Lorenzo Braschi, Tianicita, Whobot, Curpsbot-unicodify, Ish warsaw, Innity0,
Nekura, Tom Morris, Eirelover@earthlink.net, Sardanaphalus, Veinor, Tadorne, SmackBot, Proof Reader, Lestrade, Rtc, Pgk, Od Mishehu,
Eaglizard, Drewkopp, Yopie, Sebesta, Hmains, Smeggysmeg, SlimJim, pa~enwiki, Thumperward, Ada, Nbarth, Go for it!, Jadger, Darth
Panda, ChristopherM, Suicidalhamster, Ig0774, RyanEberhart, Writtenright, Kevinpurcell, Aktron, Krich, Wen D House, Tsop, Jwy, DrL,
Richard001, Salt Yeung, Lacatosias, Sammy1339, Metamagician3000, Salamurai, Sadi Carnot, Qmwne235, Ohconfucius, Byelf2007,
Aviper2k7, SashatoBot, Cedric du Zob, Arnoutf, Harryboyles, Tim bates, Accurizer, Defyn, BillFlis, Noah Salzman, Chgwheeler, Eastfrisian, Dontworry, Iridescent, Shoeofdeath, Shmuel haBalshan, Sam Li, Igni, BrJohn, CmdrObot, R9tgokunks, Sdorrance, Neelix, Chicheley, Fletcher, Gregbard, Cydebot, Jasperdoomen, Jim47658, Bellerophon5685, Skittleys, EvaK, Thijs!bot, Billysomerville, Wikid77, Aey,
Mime, Zickzack, Mahern23, West Brom 4ever, John254, Pesticide, DaQuirin, BehnamFarid, Dgies, Nick Number, Matthew Proctor,
SusanLesch, Escarbot, Doremtzwr, Sensemaker, Mentisto, RobotG, Guinsberg, Antique Rose, Jj137, Mackan79, Maziarparizade, Tlabshier, Azaghal of Belegost, Itafroma, Golgofrinchian, Deadbeef, V-train, Sighs, Skomorokh, Dsp13, The Transhumanist, Avaya1, Dustypeanut03, Ericoides, Matthew Fennell, Anthony Krupp, Andonic, Hut 8.5, Leolaursen, Frankly speaking, Magioladitis, Connormah, Parsecboy, VoABot II, A4, Dr.Crawboney, J-roo, Harelx, Lifeontheplains, Esmatly, Rstinejr, Exiledone, JaGa, Grunge6910, CCS81, Hbent,
Veronica Mars fanatic, Lackiss, EtienneDolet, MartinBot, Robert Daoust, BonBonTheJon, Naohiro19, Anaxial, R'n'B, Nono64, Tulkolahten, Shadowmuse, LedgendGamer, J.delanoy, Buttons to Push Buttons, Maurice Carbonaro, Chrisknop, Cpiral, Avisdeluna, Johnbod,
Mortifer, Ypetrachenko, Chiswick Chap, Master shepherd, Solecurrent, Madhava 1947, KValade, Jpkole, ForrestLane42, Inwind, Straw
Cat, Boombaard, Robert J Nagle, Scewing, Idioma-bot, Skant, DWPittelli, VolkovBot, Korch, Towj32lk, TXiKiBoT, Skoranka, FitzColinGerald, Anonymous Dissident, GcSwRhIc, Riteofapollo, Ontoraul, 0nlyth3truth, Don4of4, Abdullais4u, DesmondW, Varoon Arya,
Enviroboy, AjitPD, Heyst, Alcmaeonid, HiDrNick, AlleborgoBot, Jungegift, Brandon97, Austriacus, Agamus, Givegains, GirasoleDE,
Gessa~enwiki, Wairarapa, SieBot, Quantum Person, Gerakibot, Mungo Kitsch, Toolsbadly, SE7, Nummer29, Kant4u, Monegasque, Yerpo,
Citador, Javierfv1212, Lightmouse, Abdowiki, Frank Romein~enwiki, Vojvodaen, CharlesGillingham, Jeromels, Mygerardromance, Adan
noe, W.M. O'Quinlan, RS1900, Soporaeternus, RegentsPark, SlackerMom, Sfan00 IMG, ClueBot, SummerWithMorons, Dcaps, Mc2000,
Bob1960evens, Tzler, The Thing That Should Not Be, All Hallows Wraith, Plastikspork, ImperfectlyInformed, Parkjunwung, Satyenkb,
Drmies, Der Golem, Joao Xavier, P. S. Burton, H.-P.Haack, The seeker of truth, Odwoosley, Alexbot, Jumbolino, Yorkshirian, Jotterbot, SchreiberBike, BOTarate, Hsdd, JDPhD, Editor2020, DumZiBoT, Terry J. Carter, Pichpich, Mitsube, Koolokamba, Gerhardvalentin, Pomuchelskopp, HotType918, Karpouzi, Tameamseo, Lorenzogeraci, Amarssadal, Addbot, Atethnekos, Alkeemik, Reidlophile,
CanadianLinuxUser, Gzhanstong, CarsracBot, BFairntrue, Favonian, LemmeyBOT, LinkFA-Bot, AgadaUrbanit, Numbo3-bot, Lightbot,
OlEnglish, Jojocool117, Sarason, Jarble, Marksdaman, Margin1522, Markvo, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, EchetusXe, Pink!Teen, Fraggle81, TaBOT-zerem, Gowser, MisterKiser, Albrodax, MarteniqueEphrom, Ningauble, Gunnar Hendrich, AnomieBOT, AmritasyaPutra,
Mauro Lanari, JackieBot, Materialscientist, Deefree79, Citation bot, DannyAsher, Barbz79ita, Ndc258, Xqbot, , Ekwos, Drilnoth,
TechBot, Wee017, J JMesserly, Anonymous from the 21st century, J04n, GrouchoBot, O2riorob, JanDeFietser, My blue orpheus, Paperoverman, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, NobelBot, Aurola, Eisfbnore, Mattis, Nietzsche 2, Verbum Veritas, Hamamelis, Vdjj1960, Sesu
Prime, Green Cardamom, FreeKnowledgeCreator, Athex50, FrescoBot, Liridon, Paine Ellsworth, Lothar von Richthofen, Firepheonix26,
Sartoresartus, Masterknighted, Smithywestface, Citation bot 1, VOBO, Winterst, Acheong87, Foglietta, Melissapbr, AmphBot, RedBot,
Wwmargera, Drzzdt91, JaredBond, Jauhienij, Utility Monster, Robvanvee, Kgrad, Hordalistic, Indexme, TobeBot, Pollinosisss, Standardfact, Ryandillon, SmartyBoots, Jonkerz, GregKaye, Vrenator, LilyKitty, Jimsteele9999, Jfmantis, Updatehelper, TjBot, DASHBot, Sbrianhicks, EmausBot, Pjposullivan, Fatbrett2, Mtirrell38, RA0808, Jibbytot, * * , Tommy2010, K6ka, Evanh2008, Kkm010,
Ida Shaw, Jamesgate, JSirgento, CrimsonBot, Alpha Quadrant, H3llBot, Tchospihrresky, SporkBot, Wildsoi5, RodneyOhebsion, , L
Kensington, Myskeletoncloset, Peace is contagious, Donner60, Polisher of Cobwebs, Chewings72, Mystichumwipe, Mentibot, Mcc1789,
Maisar10, Kcstaneld, HaTikwa, ClueBot NG, Emdee82, Zachmays, Piast93, Beatup12, Audreyallendale, Widr, Helpful Pixie Bot, Sinesublataspe, Wikitomo2008~enwiki, Soundwaweserb, Susori, Julien16, Wiki13, Aldersonsmith, Okdone, Renamed user 2931-018231,
Yekshemesh, Eduardofeld, Tutelary, Anthrophilos, Polecartprize, Ninmacer20, ChrisGualtieri, Aberrantsea, Gordoncanada, Dexbot, GentleCollapse16, ThereisA, SpaceCatOnMushrooms, VIAFbot, Darth Jor-El, RideLightning, Derpian, LiamFitzGilbert, TuttiFruttiCherryPie, Jochen Burghardt, Jeerson1957, Gridzel, BilalSaleh, Herbtea, Faizan, Godot13, Greenforester, Beingsshepherd, I am One of Many,
BreakfastJr, Christina Gerhardt, Hu Ping Sanchez, Cherubinirules, RaphaelQS, Metchley, 00prometheus, Bzdura, Aj1017, FireySixtySeven, Karmagy, Bladesmulti, I3roly, Dan Mihai Pitea, LusatianMan90, Monkbot, Greedo8, Cphwb556, Lukaskw, Thkafra, Piotrniz, Soul
Keeper1687118, Tetra quark, Mj thenovelatre, Velours JB, KasparBot, Mohammadkhans, 1969Diaz, Trjulio, Qpoi9762 and Anonymous:
732

12.2

12.2

Images

21

Images

File:ArthurSchopenhauer.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/ArthurSchopenhauer.jpg License: Public

domain Contributors: Hans Wahl, Anton Kippenberg: Goethe und seine Welt, Insel-Verlag, Leipzig 1932 S.189 Original artist: Aquarell unbekannter Knstler, Privatbesitz(1932)
File:Arthur_Schopenhauer_Portrait_by_Ludwig_Sigismund_Ruhl_1815.jpeg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/6/6b/Arthur_Schopenhauer_Portrait_by_Ludwig_Sigismund_Ruhl_1815.jpeg License:
Public domain Contributors:
Schopenhauer-Archiv der Stadt- und Universittsbibliorhek Frankfurt am Main Original artist: Ludwig Sigismund Ruhl (17941887)
File:Arthur_Schopenhauer_Signature.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Arthur_Schopenhauer_
Signature.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Traced in Adobe Illustrator from File:Schopenhauer sig.png Original artist: Arthur
Schopenhauer
File:Arthur_Schopenhauer_by_J_Schfer,_1859b.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Arthur_
Schopenhauer_by_J_Sch%C3%A4fer%2C_1859b.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Frankfurt am Main University Library
Original artist: Schfer, J.
File:Arthur_Schopenhauer_by_Wilhelm_Busch.jpeg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Arthur_
Schopenhauer_by_Wilhelm_Busch.jpeg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/archive/images/busch.jpg
Original artist: Wilhelm Busch
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:DAN-28a-Danzig-500MIL_Mark_(1923).jpg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/
DAN-28a-Danzig-500MIL_Mark_%281923%29.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Image by Godot13 Original artist:
National Museum of American History
File:FFM_Wallanlagen_Schopenhauer-Denkmal.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/FFM_
Wallanlagen_Schopenhauer-Denkmal.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Frank Behnsen
File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Frankfurt_Am_Main-Portraits-Arthur_Schopenhauer-1845.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/
68/Frankfurt_Am_Main-Portraits-Arthur_Schopenhauer-1845.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Eberhard Mayer-Wegelin: Frhe
Photographie in Frankfurt am Main: 18391870. Schirmer/Mosel Verlag GmbH, Mnchen 1982, ISBN 3-921375-87-8 Original artist:
Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1050' data-le-height='590'
/></a>
File:Gdansk_Schopenhauer_House.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Gdansk_Schopenhauer_
House.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Pumeks
File:People_icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/People_icon.svg License: CC0 Contributors: OpenClipart Original artist: OpenClipart
File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
File:Schopenhauer-ffm001.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Schopenhauer-ffm001.jpg License:
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: dontworry
File:Schopenhauer_1852.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Schopenhauer_1852.jpg License: Public
domain Contributors: Eberhard Mayer-Wegelin, Frhe Photographie in Frankfurt am Main 1839-1870, 1982, Nr. 10. Original artist: Jacob
Seib
File:Socrates.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Socrates.png License: Public domain Contributors:
Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. Original artist: The original uploader was Magnus Manske at English Wikipedia Later versions
were uploaded by Optimager at en.wikipedia.
File:Speaker_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg License: Public domain Contributors: No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims). Original artist: No machine-readable
author provided. Mobius assumed (based on copyright claims).
File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Wikisource-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: Rei-artur Original artist: Nicholas Moreau

12.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0