Arthur Schopenhauer
1788 – 1860 German philosopher
The philosopher of the will and of pessimism.
- Religion
- An atheist drawn to Buddhist and Hindu thought, who saw existence as suffering driven by blind will.
- Affiliations
- None. He worked largely outside the university world.
Schopenhauer argued that a blind, striving will underlies all of reality, and that this striving dooms us to suffering. He looked to art and to Eastern renunciation for relief. His pessimism and his focus on the unconscious will deeply influenced Nietzsche, Freud, and modern art.
Connections
- influenced Friedrich Nietzsche — Nietzsche called himself Schopenhauer's disciple before breaking away.
- influenced Friedrich Nietzsche — Schopenhauer's philosophy of will was his starting point.