Arthur Schopenhauer
German philosopher and writer
Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher who wrote The World as Will and Representation. He built a pessimistic system of thought on the foundations of Kant's ideas.
2 summaries 32 min of listening
Prussian Born 1788 in Gdańsk Died 1860
Influenced by Plato, Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, Baruch Spinoza, David Hume, John Stuart Mill
About Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 to 1860) was born in Danzig, now Gdańsk in Poland. His mother was the writer Johanna Schopenhauer, and he had a younger sister, Adele. He first published The World as Will and Representation in 1818 and expanded it in 1844. Building on Immanuel Kant's philosophy, he developed an atheistic system of metaphysics and ethics. He was among the first Western philosophers to share major ideas from Indian philosophy. He lived mainly in Frankfurt as an independent scholar. His work drew little attention while he was alive, but it later influenced philosophy, literature and science. Thinkers and artists such as Nietzsche and Wagner were among those he influenced.