Arthur Schopenhauer
German philosopher known for pessimism and The World as Will and Representation.
Schopenhauer was among the first Western philosophers to affirm tenets of Indian philosophy, such as asceticism and denial of the self.[1]
Quick Facts
- Region
- Western philosophy
- Era
- 19th-century philosophy
- Born
- 22 February 1788
- Birthplace
- Danzig (Gdańsk), Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Died
- 21 September 1860
- Place of death
- Frankfurt, German Confederation
- Education
- Illustrious Gymnasium
- University of Göttingen
- University of Jena (PhD, 1813)
- Academic advisors
- Gottlob Ernst Schulze; Karl Christian Friedrich Krause
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Schopenhauer was born in Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland) to wealthy German patrician families.[2][3] His father, Heinrich Floris Schopenhauer, was a successful merchant who groomed his son for the family business.[3] After his father's death, Schopenhauer left his business apprenticeship at age 19 to prepare for university studies.[3] He began studies at the University of Göttingen in 1809, first majoring in medicine, then philosophy.[3]
He moved to Dresden in 1814, where he started writing The World as Will and Representation in 1814 and finished it in 1818.[4][3] Heinrich Schopenhauer died by drowning in a canal near the family's Hamburg residence in 1805; both his wife and son considered it a suicide, though an accident was also possible.[5][3] During March 1820, Schopenhauer arranged his Berlin lectures to coincide with the popular class times of Hegel, resulting in very low student attendance.[3] Schopenhauer's writings attracted little notice while he was alive, yet after his death they exerted considerable influence on philosophy, literature, and science.[1]
What the cited sources add
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that Schopenhauer was among the first 19th-century philosophers to contend the universe is not a rational place.[3] A 2025 podcast transcript states Schopenhauer believed happiness cannot be found by escaping suffering but by understanding it.[6] The same source reports that Schopenhauer insisted compassion is the only true morality.[6] That article also states Schopenhauer hated animal cruelty and inspired early pioneers of the animal welfare movement.[7]
The Big Think article adds that Schopenhauer thought aesthetic experience of natural beauty was a temporary release from the will to life.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Arthur Schopenhauer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hergenhahn, "An Introduction to the History of Psychology", Cengage Learning, 2009, p. 216; Arthur Schopenhauer, "Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion, Volume 2", Springer, 15 April 2008 }} – audiobook from LibriVox. * {{cite book, p. 824 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Arthur Schopenhauer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Schopenhauer, "Chronology", Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. xxx (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wicks, "Arthur Schopenhauer", 2003-05-12. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
- Wikipedia, "Arthur Schopenhauer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Braunschweig, "The Invention of Beethoven and Rossini: Historiography, Analysis, Criticism", Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 297, n. 7 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Arthur Schopenhauer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Safranski (1990), p. 12 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Bertolotti, "The Surprising Wisdom of Schopenhauer's Pessimism", Perennial Meditations, 2025-11-08. facts only, no text reused. perennial.substack.com
- Thomson, "The Schopenhauer Principle: How pessimism can help steer your life", Big Think, 2025-04-09. facts only, no text reused. bigthink.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Arthur Schopenhauer (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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