Studies In Pessimism - Softcover

Schopenhauer, Arthur

Softcover

ISBN 10: 153691861X ISBN 13: 9781536918618

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional; but misfortune in general is the rule.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

A disciple of Kant and a significant factor in shaping Nietzsche's thinking, Arthur Schopenhauer worked from the foundation that reality is but an extension of our own will, and that human life is characterized chiefly by misery.

In this essay, translated by THOMAS BAILEY SAUNDERS (1860-1928) and first published in English in the 1890s, Schopenhauer offers his thoughts:

* on "the sufferings of the world," and why evil is positive * on "the vanity of existence," * on suicide * on immortality, and why it is less than desirable * on women, and why "they remain children their whole life long" * and more.

Students of philosophy and of 19th-century intellectualism will find this a fascinating read.

About the Author:

Arthur Schopenhauer's pessimism comes from his elevating of Will above reason as the mainspring of human thought and behavior. The Will is the ultimate metaphysical animating noumenon and it is futile, illogical and directionless striving. Schopenhauer sees reason as weak and insignificant compared to Will; in one metaphor, Schopenhauer compares the human intellect to a lame man who can see, but who rides on the shoulder of the blind giant of Will. Schopenhauer saw human desires as impossible to satisfy. He pointed to motivators such as hunger, thirst and sexuality as the fundamental features of the Will in action, which are always by nature unsatisfactory.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 153691861X
• ISBN 13: 9781536918618
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 80