Essays And Aphorisms (Penguin Pocket Hardbacks) Hardcover

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 Arthur Schopenhauer was
born in Danzig in 1788 where his family of Dutch origin owned a respected trading house Arthur was expected to inherit the business but hated the work and in 1807 after his father&s suicide and the sale of the business he enrolled in the grammar school at Gotha He went on to study medicine and science at Gottingen University and in 1810 began to study philosophy In 1811 he transferred to Berlin to write his doctoral thesis and began to write The World as Will and Idea a complete exploration of his philosophy which was finished in 1818 Although the book failed to sell his belief in his own views sustained him through twenty-five years of frustrated desire for fame During his middle life he travelled widely in Europe and in 1844 brought out a much expanded edition of his book which after his
death became one of the most widely read of all philosophical works His fame was established in 1851 with the publication of Parerga and Paralipomena a collection of dialogues essays and aphorisms He died in 1860 RJ Hollingdale has translated works by among others Schopenhauer Goethe TA Hoffmann Lichtenburg and Theodor Fontane as well as eleven of Nietzsche&s books many for the Penguin Classics He has published two books on Nietzsche and was Honorary President of the British Nietzsche Society until his death in 2003