Schopenhauer believed in the universal will to live leading to suffering, finding solace in art, particularly music.
His critique of Hegel and embrace of Kant's views on the numeral world shaped his philosophy.
Deep dives
Schopenhauer's Early Life and Philosophical Contrasts with Hegel
Arthur Schopenhauer, a philosopher born in 1788 in Germany, opposed prevalent philosophers of his time like Hegel. His central idea revolved around a universal will to live characterized by infinite emptiness leading to suffering. Schopenhauer's criticism of Hegel stemmed from their conflicting views on the unfolding of the world spirit and individual contradictions within different states of existence.
Schopenhauer's Disagreement with Romanticism and Influences from Kant
Schopenhauer rejected parts of the Romantic movement that favored sentiment over reason. He drew inspiration from Immanuel Kant's epistemology, particularly the distinction between the phenomenal and numeral worlds. Schopenhauer adopted Kant's idea that beyond the constraints of perception and causality lies the unknowable numeral world, known through intuition based on inner experiences.
Schopenhauer's Concept of the Will and Influence on Freud and Novelists
Schopenhauer's philosophy emphasized the will as an endless, blind force driving all existence, relieving only through self-denial. This idea of the will to life or strive for survival and reproduction influenced Sigmund Freud's understanding of unconscious drives. Writers like Hardy and Lawrence drew from Schopenhauer's pessimistic view, shaping their exploration of human suffering and desires in their works.
Music as an Escape and Schopenhauer's Influence on Wagner and Modern Thinkers
Schopenhauer praised music as the highest art form that enables a direct connection to the world's essence. Richard Wagner, deeply influenced by Schopenhauer, integrated his philosophy into operas like 'Tristan und Isolde,' showcasing music as an expression of metaphysical realities. Schopenhauer's ideas on suffering, desire, and the illusory nature of existence echoed through writers, psychologists, and artists well into the 20th century.
Melvyn Bragg and guests AC Grayling, Beatrice Han-Pile and Christopher Janaway discuss the dark, pessimistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.As a radical young thinker in Germany in the early 19th century, Schopenhauer railed against the dominant ideas of the day. He dismissed the pre-eminent German philosopher Georg Hegel as a pompous charlatan, and turned instead to the Enlightenment thinking of Immanuel Kant for inspiration. Schopenhauer's central idea was that everything in the world was driven by the Will - broadly, the ceaseless desire to live. But this, he argued, left us swinging pointlessly between suffering and boredom. The only escape from the tyranny of the Will was to be found in art, and particularly in music. Schopenhauer was influenced by Eastern philosophy, and in turn his own work had an impact well beyond the philosophical tradition in the West, helping to shape the work of artists and writers from Richard Wagner to Marcel Proust, and Albert Camus to Sigmund Freud.AC Grayling is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London; Beatrice Han-Pile is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex; Christopher Janaway is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton.
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