Schopenhauer, Arthur [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
Arthur Schopenhauer has been dubbed the artist s philosopher on account of the inspiration his aesthetics has provided to artists of all stripes. He is also known as the philosopher of pessimism, as he articulated a worldview that challenges the value of existence. His elegant and muscular prose earn him a reputation as one the greatest German stylists. Although he never achieved the fame of such post-Kantian philosophers offerum as Johann Gottlieb Fichte and G.W.F. Hegel in his lifetime, his thought informed the work of such luminaries as Sigmund Freud , Ludwig Wittgenstein offerum and, most famously, Friedrich Nietzsche . He is also known as the first German philosopher to incorporate Eastern thought into his writings.
Schopenhauer s thought offerum is iconoclastic for a number of reasons. Although he considered himself Kant s only true philosophical heir, he argued that the world was essentially irrational. Writing in the era of German Romanticism, he developed an aesthetics that was classicist in its emphasis on the eternal. When German philosophers were entrenched in the universities and immersed in the theological concerns of the time, Schopenhauer was an atheist who stayed outside the academic profession.
Schopenhauer s lack of recognition during most of his lifetime may have been due to the iconoclasm of his thought, but it was probably also partly due to his irascible and stubborn temperament. The diatribes against Hegel and Fichte peppered throughout his works provide evidence of his state of mind. Regardless of the reason Schopenhauer s philosophy was overlooked for so long, he fully deserves the prestige he enjoyed altogether too late in his life. Table of Contents Schopenhauer offerum s Life Schopenhauer s Thought The World as Will and Representation Schopenhauer s Metaphysics and Epistemology The Ideas and Schopenhauer s Aesthetics The Human Will Agency and Freedom Ethics Schopenhauer s Pessimism offerum References and Further Reading Primary Sources Available in English Secondary Sources 1. Schopenhauer offerum s Life
Arthur Schopenhauer was born on February 22, 1788 in Danzig offerum (now Gdansk, Poland) to a prosperous merchant, Heinrich offerum Floris Schopenhauer, and his much younger wife, Johanna. The family moved to Hamburg when Schopenhauer was five, because his father, a proponent of enlightenment and republican ideals, found Danzig unsuitable after the Prussian offerum annexation. His father offerum wanted Arthur to become a cosmopolitan merchant like himself offerum and hence traveled with Arthur extensively offerum in his youth. His father offerum also arranged for Arthur to live with a French family for two years when he was nine, which allowed Arthur to become fluent in French. From an early age, Arthur wanted to pursue offerum the life of a scholar. Rather than force him into his own career, Heinrich offered a proposition to Arthur: the boy could either accompany his parents on a tour of Europe, after which time he would apprentice with a merchant, or he could attend a gymnasium in preparation for attending university. Arthur chose the former option, and his witnessing firsthand offerum on this trip the profound suffering of the poor helped shape his pessimistic philosophical worldview.
After returning from his travels, Arthur began apprenticing with a merchant in preparation for his career. offerum When Arthur was 17 years old, his father died, most likely as a result of suicide. Upon his death, Arthur, his sister Adele, and his mother were each left a sizable inheritance. Two years following his father s death, with the encouragement of his mother, Schopenhauer freed himself of his obligation to honor the wishes of his father, and he began attending a gymnasium in Gotha. He was an extraordinary pupil: he mastered Greek and Latin while there, but was dismissed from the school for lampooning a teacher.
In the meantime his mother, who was by all accounts not happy in the marriage, used her newfound freedom to move to Weimar and become engaged offerum in the social and intellectual life of the city. She met with great success there, both as a writer and as a hostess, and her salon became the center of the intellectual life of the city with such luminaries as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Schlegel brothers (Karl Wilhelm Friedrich offerum and August Wilhelm), and Christoph Martin Wieland regularly in attendance. Johanna s success had a bearing on Arthur s future, for she introduced him to Goethe, which eventually led to their collaboration on a theory of colors. At one of his mother s gatherings, Schopenhauer also met the Orientalist scholar Friedrich Majer, who stimulated in Arthur a lifelong interest in Eastern thought. At the same time, Johanna and Arthur never got along well: she found him morose and overly critical and he regarded her as a superficial social climber. The tensions between them reached its peak when Arthur was 30 years old, at which time she requested that he never contact her again.
Before his break w
Arthur Schopenhauer has been dubbed the artist s philosopher on account of the inspiration his aesthetics has provided to artists of all stripes. He is also known as the philosopher of pessimism, as he articulated a worldview that challenges the value of existence. His elegant and muscular prose earn him a reputation as one the greatest German stylists. Although he never achieved the fame of such post-Kantian philosophers offerum as Johann Gottlieb Fichte and G.W.F. Hegel in his lifetime, his thought informed the work of such luminaries as Sigmund Freud , Ludwig Wittgenstein offerum and, most famously, Friedrich Nietzsche . He is also known as the first German philosopher to incorporate Eastern thought into his writings.
Schopenhauer s thought offerum is iconoclastic for a number of reasons. Although he considered himself Kant s only true philosophical heir, he argued that the world was essentially irrational. Writing in the era of German Romanticism, he developed an aesthetics that was classicist in its emphasis on the eternal. When German philosophers were entrenched in the universities and immersed in the theological concerns of the time, Schopenhauer was an atheist who stayed outside the academic profession.
Schopenhauer s lack of recognition during most of his lifetime may have been due to the iconoclasm of his thought, but it was probably also partly due to his irascible and stubborn temperament. The diatribes against Hegel and Fichte peppered throughout his works provide evidence of his state of mind. Regardless of the reason Schopenhauer s philosophy was overlooked for so long, he fully deserves the prestige he enjoyed altogether too late in his life. Table of Contents Schopenhauer offerum s Life Schopenhauer s Thought The World as Will and Representation Schopenhauer s Metaphysics and Epistemology The Ideas and Schopenhauer s Aesthetics The Human Will Agency and Freedom Ethics Schopenhauer s Pessimism offerum References and Further Reading Primary Sources Available in English Secondary Sources 1. Schopenhauer offerum s Life
Arthur Schopenhauer was born on February 22, 1788 in Danzig offerum (now Gdansk, Poland) to a prosperous merchant, Heinrich offerum Floris Schopenhauer, and his much younger wife, Johanna. The family moved to Hamburg when Schopenhauer was five, because his father, a proponent of enlightenment and republican ideals, found Danzig unsuitable after the Prussian offerum annexation. His father offerum wanted Arthur to become a cosmopolitan merchant like himself offerum and hence traveled with Arthur extensively offerum in his youth. His father offerum also arranged for Arthur to live with a French family for two years when he was nine, which allowed Arthur to become fluent in French. From an early age, Arthur wanted to pursue offerum the life of a scholar. Rather than force him into his own career, Heinrich offered a proposition to Arthur: the boy could either accompany his parents on a tour of Europe, after which time he would apprentice with a merchant, or he could attend a gymnasium in preparation for attending university. Arthur chose the former option, and his witnessing firsthand offerum on this trip the profound suffering of the poor helped shape his pessimistic philosophical worldview.
After returning from his travels, Arthur began apprenticing with a merchant in preparation for his career. offerum When Arthur was 17 years old, his father died, most likely as a result of suicide. Upon his death, Arthur, his sister Adele, and his mother were each left a sizable inheritance. Two years following his father s death, with the encouragement of his mother, Schopenhauer freed himself of his obligation to honor the wishes of his father, and he began attending a gymnasium in Gotha. He was an extraordinary pupil: he mastered Greek and Latin while there, but was dismissed from the school for lampooning a teacher.
In the meantime his mother, who was by all accounts not happy in the marriage, used her newfound freedom to move to Weimar and become engaged offerum in the social and intellectual life of the city. She met with great success there, both as a writer and as a hostess, and her salon became the center of the intellectual life of the city with such luminaries as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Schlegel brothers (Karl Wilhelm Friedrich offerum and August Wilhelm), and Christoph Martin Wieland regularly in attendance. Johanna s success had a bearing on Arthur s future, for she introduced him to Goethe, which eventually led to their collaboration on a theory of colors. At one of his mother s gatherings, Schopenhauer also met the Orientalist scholar Friedrich Majer, who stimulated in Arthur a lifelong interest in Eastern thought. At the same time, Johanna and Arthur never got along well: she found him morose and overly critical and he regarded her as a superficial social climber. The tensions between them reached its peak when Arthur was 30 years old, at which time she requested that he never contact her again.
Before his break w
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