Schopenhauer
Published on 30. April 2008
216 pages
978-0-470-69590-6 (ISBN)
Description
This innovative volume presents an insightful philosophicalportrait of the life and work of Arthur Schopenhauer.
* * Focuses on the concept of the sublime as it clarifiesSchopenhauer's aesthetic theory, moral theory andasceticism
* Explores the substantial relationships betweenSchopenhauer's philosophy and Buddhism, Hinduism, andChristianity
* Defends Schopenhauer's position that absolute truth canbe known and described as a blindly striving, all-permeating,universal "Will"
* Examines the influence of Asian philosophy onSchopenhauer
* Describes the relationships between Schopenhauer'sthought and that of Hegel, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein.
Reviews / Votes
"Robert Wicks offers a highly accessible introduction toSchopenhauer's philosophy, giving prominence to the central ethicalnotions of tranquility and wanting less, which he compares inilluminating fashion with Buddhism." - Chris Janaway, University of Southampton "Robert Wicks' Schopenhauer is a perspicacious andperspicuous elucidation of the great pessimist's thoughts. This isa fine work of philosophical scholarship, valuable for thoseapproaching Schopenhauer for the first time and for those who havebeen with him for years." - David Cartwright, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater"Robert Wicks offers a highly accessible introduction toSchopenhauer's philosophy, giving prominence to the central ethicalnotions of tranquility and wanting less, which he compares inilluminating fashion with Buddhism." -Chris Janaway, University of Southampton "Robert Wicks' Schopenhauer is a perspicacious andperspicuous elucidation of the great pessimist's thoughts. This isa fine work of philosophical scholarship, valuable for thoseapproaching Schopenhauer for the first time and for those who havebeen with him for years." -David Cartwright, University of Wisconsin-WhitewaterMore details
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Person
Robert Wicks is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Auckland. He is the author of Modern French Philosophy: From Existentialism to Postmodernism (2003), Nietzsche (2002), and Hegel's Theory of Aesthetic Judgment (1994). He is also the author of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Schopenhauer.
Content
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
Abbreviations.
Chapter One: The Philosophy of a Nonconformist (1788-1860).
I. The Unsettled Years: 1788-1831.
II. The Stable Years: 1833-1860.
Part I: Schopenhauer's Theoretical Philosophy.
Chapter Two: Historical Background.
I. Mind-Dependent Qualities versus Mind-IndependentQualities.
II. Space and Time.
Chapter Three: The Principle of Sufficient Reason.
I. The Root of All Explanation.
II. The Four Basic Forms of Explanation.
Chapter Four: Schopenhauer's Idealism and his Criticism ofKant.
I. The Rejection of a Mind-Independent Reality.
II. Kant's Theory of Perception.
III. Kant's Use of the Term "Object".
IV. The Logic of Manifestation.
Chapter Five: The World in Itself as a Meaningless and AlmightyWill.
I. Universal Subjectivity.
II. The World as Will.
III. The Two-Tiered Objectification of the Will: Platonic Ideasand Spatio-Temporal Individuals.
Chapter Six: Critical Interpretations of the World as Will.
I. Scientific Knowledge, Philosophical Knowledge, and MysticalKnowledge.
II. Regular Time versus the Eternal Present.
Part II: Schopenhauer's Practical Philosophy.
Chapter Seven: Endless Suffering in the Daily World.
I. A Universal Will Without Purpose.
II. The Purposelessness of Schopenhauer'sThing-in-Itself.
III. Life as Embittering: Schopenhauer and Buddhism.
Chapter Eight: Tranquility I: Sublimity, Genius, and AestheticExperience.
I. Platonic Ideas and Aesthetic Experience.
II. Artistic Genius and the Communication Theory of Art.
III. The Hierarchy of the Visual and Verbal Arts.
IV. Tragedy and Sublimity.
V. Music and Metaphysical Experience.
Chapter Nine: Tranquility II: Christlike Virtue and MoralAwareness.
I. Empathy as the Foundation of Moral Awareness.
II. Intelligible, Empirical, and Acquired Character.
III. Humanity's Sublime Anguish.
Chapter Ten: Tranquility III: Asceticism, Mysticism, andBuddhism.
I. The Possibility of the Denial-of-the-Will.
II. Christian Quietism, Yogic Ecstasy, and BuddhistEnlightenment.
III. Asceticism and Spiritual Purification.
Part III: Schopenhauer in Perspective.
Chapter Eleven: Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Eternal Life.
I. The Question of Life's Value.
II. Funereal Imagery and Nietzsche's Theory ofTragedy.
III. Schopenhauer's Moral Awareness and EternalRecurrence.
IV. The Eternalistic Illusion of Supreme Health.
V. Nietzsche's Madness and Eternalistic Consciousness.
Chapter Twelve: Schopenhauer, Hegel, and Alienated Labor.
I. The World's Essence: Rational or Irrational?.
II. Labor, Imprisonment, and Christianity.
III. The World as Will and Representation and"Self-Consciousness" in Hegel's.
Phenomenology.
Chapter Thirteen: Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein, and theUnspeakable.
I. The Quest for Absolute Value.
II. What the Philosophical Investigations Cannot Say.
Conclusion: Idealism and the Will to Peace.
I. The Plausibility of Schopenhauer's Idealism.
II. The Explanatory Weakness of a Blind and Senseless Will.
III. The Prospect of Peace.
Bibliography
