Essays and Aphorisms

by Schopenhauer, Arthur; Hollingdale, R. J.

• ISBN13: 9780140442274
• ISBN10: 0140442278
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1973-05-30
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

One of the greatest philosophers of the nineteenth century, Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860) believed that human action is determined not by reason but by 'will' - the blind and irrational desire for physical existence. This selection of his writings on religion, ethics, politics, women, suicide, books and many other themes is taken from Schopenhauer's last work, Parerga and Paralipomena, which he published in 1851. These pieces depict humanity as locked in a struggle beyond good and evil, and each individual absolutely free within a Godless world, in which art, morality and self - awareness are our only salvation. This innovative - and pessimistic - view has proved powerfully influential upon philosophy and art, directly affecting the work of Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and Wagner among others.

Table of Contents

Introduction	9	(41)
ESSAYS
On the Suffering of the World	41	(10)
On the Vanity of Existence	51	(4)
On the Antithesis of Thing in Itself and Appearance	55	(6)
On Affirmation and Denial of the Will to Live	61	(5)
On the Indestructibility of our Essential Being by Death	66	(11)
On Suicide	77	(3)
On Women	80	(9)
On Thinking for Yourself	89	(6)
On Religion: a Dialogue	95	(22)
APHORISMS
On Philosophy and the Intellect	117	(16)
On Ethics	133	(15)
On Law and Politics	148	(7)
On Aesthetics	155	(11)
On Psychology	166	(14)
On Religion	180	(18)
On Books and Writing	198	(14)
On Various Subjects	212	(25)
List of Correspondences	237