Schopenhauer: A Very Short Introduction

✍ Scribed by Schopenhauer, Arthur;Janaway, Christopher

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Year: 2004;2002
• Tongue: English
• Series: Very short introductions 62
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Schopenhauer is the most readable of German philosophers. This book gives a succinct explanation of his metaphysical system, concentrating on the original aspects of his thought, which inspired many artists and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer's central notion is that of the will—a blind, irrational force that he uses to interpret both the human mind and the whole of nature. Seeing human behaviour as that of a natural organism governed by the will to life, Schopenhauer developed radical insights concerning the unconscious and sexuality which influenced both psychologists and philosophers.

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✦ Table of Contents

1. Schopenhauer's life and works
   2. Within and beyond appearance
   3. The world as will and representation
   4. Will, body, and the self
   5. Character, sex, and the unconscious
   6. Art and ideas
   7. Ethics: seeing the world aright
   8. Existence and pessimism
   9. Schopenhauer's influence
   Further reading

✦ Subjects

Schopenhauer, Arthur, -- 1788-1860