La Rocambolesca Vida de Arthur Schopenhauer 🫠

Introduction to Schopenhauer's Life

Early Life and Family Background

• Arthur Schopenhauer was born on February 22, 1788, into a wealthy bourgeois family.

• His father was a merchant, while his mother was a popular writer who hosted literary gatherings with prominent Romantic figures.

• Schopenhauer had a tumultuous relationship with his mother due to their contrasting personalities; she was extroverted and cheerful, whereas he was irritable and antisocial.

Character Development

• He exhibited frequent bouts of anger, fear, and distrust throughout his youth.

• An incident occurred where he pushed an elderly neighbor down the stairs out of frustration; fortunately, she survived but he had to pay her compensation for life.

Philosophical Awakening

Loss of Faith and Career Choices

• At a young age, Schopenhauer lost faith in God due to witnessing the world's suffering.

• Initially trained as a merchant to please his father, he abandoned this path after his father's suicide in 1805.

Academic Pursuits

• In 1809, he enrolled in medical studies at the University of Göttingen but later shifted focus towards philosophy.

• Influenced by professors like Fichte and Schleiermacher at Berlin University, he became disillusioned with idealism.

Key Philosophical Contributions

Thesis on Rationalism

• In 1813, Schopenhauer presented his thesis titled "The Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason."

• He identified four types of necessity that govern reality: logical necessity (truth dependence), physical necessity (causality), mathematical necessity (spatial-temporal relations), and moral necessity (motivational actions).

Determinism vs. Free Will

• He argued against human freedom; all actions are determined by character-driven motivations stemming from will.

Influences and Relationships

Literary Connections

• After returning home, Schopenhauer engaged in discussions with Goethe about color theory.

Major Works and Influences

• His second work "On Vision and Colors" emerged from these conversations in 1816.

Cultural Influences

• He admired Spanish literature and learned Spanish to read authors like Gracián directly.

• His philosophical influences included Plato, Kant, Indian philosophy (especially Vedas & Upanishads), emphasizing concepts like reincarnation leading to ultimate truth realization.

Schopenhauer's Philosophy: Pain, Desire, and the Search for Truth

The Nature of Suffering

• Schopenhauer posits that suffering is inherent to existence, labeling it as "the worst of all possible worlds" in contrast to Leibniz.

• He identifies desire, particularly the craving for sensory pleasures, as the root cause of pain.

• Liberation from suffering necessitates the renunciation of desire itself.

• Achieving this state of perfection can be pursued through meditation, prayer, and ascetic practices.

Schopenhauer's Major Work

• His seminal work, "The World as Will and Representation," published in 1819, aimed to synthesize Western and Eastern philosophies with influences from Neoplatonism and Stoicism.

• Despite high expectations, the book was initially a commercial failure; nine years post-publication saw unsold copies being recycled.

• Schopenhauer believed he had unraveled the enigma of reality and considered himself a true successor to Kant’s philosophical legacy.

Academic Struggles

• In 1819, he became a professor at Berlin University but faced challenges from Hegel during his habilitation exam.

• To counter Hegel's popularity, Schopenhauer scheduled his lectures simultaneously but attracted few students compared to Hegel’s full classes.

Later Works and Recognition

• Despite initial setbacks in publishing success, he continued writing works intended as supplements or clarifications to his main philosophy.

• His later publication "Parerga and Paralipomena" (1851), which contained aphorisms and essays written in an engaging style, finally garnered him widespread recognition.

Legacy and Influence

• Schopenhauer's ideas resonated during a time when intellectual optimism waned; he argued that reality is fundamentally irrational rather than rational.

• He advocated for asceticism as a solution to human suffering yet lived a life contrary to his teachings on renunciation.

• Critics noted his hypocrisy regarding personal adherence to his philosophical principles while influencing others towards self-denial.

• His impact extended beyond philosophy into music with Wagner influenced by his thoughts on pain; even physicist Wolfgang Pauli acknowledged Schopenhauer’s influence on his own philosophical reflections.