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The Wisdom of Life and Other Essays: The Works of Arthur Schopenhauer
Excerpt from The Wisdom of Life, and Other Essays
Among philosophical writers Schopenhauer enjoys the advantage of standing alone. He cannot be classified. He thus escapes being lost in the crowd. It is indeed true that a great deal of what he writes is taken from his predecessors. It is, however, borrowed, not stolen. It is in each case acknowledged and accredited to the original authors, and while it is adopted by Schopenhauer it is so assimilated and transmuted as to become his own, bearing his image and superscription.
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Among philosophical writers Schopenhauer enjoys the advantage of standing alone. He cannot be classified. He thus escapes being lost in the crowd. It is indeed true that a great deal of what he writes is taken from his predecessors. It is, however, borrowed, not stolen. It is in each case acknowledged and accredited to the original authors, and while it is adopted by Schopenhauer it is so assimilated and transmuted as to become his own, bearing his image and superscription.
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
- GenresPhilosophy
316 pages, Paperback
Published September 10, 2010
35 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Schopenhauer
2,132 books6,105 followersArthur Schopenhauer was born in the city of Danzig (then part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; present day Gdańsk, Poland) and was a German philosopher best known for his work The World as Will and Representation. Schopenhauer attempted to make his career as an academic by correcting and expanding Immanuel Kant's philosophy concerning the way in which we experience the world.
He was the son of author Johanna Schopenhauer and the older brother of Adele Schopenhauer.
He was the son of author Johanna Schopenhauer and the older brother of Adele Schopenhauer.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 15, 2007
As this is a book you'll only find in secondhand shops, it's not one I can necessarily "recommend." It is one book in a set exploring great Western writers and philosophers, with excerpts of representative works and some shorter full works (I also picked up Coleridge, Donne, Goethe, and Rousseau).
Anyway, I would have liked this book more if it had included more biographical content or further critical examination and analysis. It contained no bibliography of works by Schopenhauer, which would have been helpful, but the translator's footnotes often pointed to specific works that went into certain ideas in more detail.
Nonetheless, I agree with about 75% of what Schopenhauer is saying, and I like his straightforward style. Most enjoyable were "The Art of Literature" and "Studies in Pessimism." The book also includes his infamous "Of Women," which is essentially a misogynistic diatribe. As a whole, this book was a good overview of Schopenhauer's philosophy.
Anyway, I would have liked this book more if it had included more biographical content or further critical examination and analysis. It contained no bibliography of works by Schopenhauer, which would have been helpful, but the translator's footnotes often pointed to specific works that went into certain ideas in more detail.
Nonetheless, I agree with about 75% of what Schopenhauer is saying, and I like his straightforward style. Most enjoyable were "The Art of Literature" and "Studies in Pessimism." The book also includes his infamous "Of Women," which is essentially a misogynistic diatribe. As a whole, this book was a good overview of Schopenhauer's philosophy.
October 11, 2024
VARIOUS ESSAYS WRITTEN BY THE “GREAT PESSIMIST”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was a German philosopher. He wrote in the Preface, “In these pages I shall speak of The Wisdom of Life in the common meaning of the term, as the art, namely, of ordering our lives so as to obtain the greatest possible amount of pleasure and success… Now whether human life corresponds… to this conception of existence, is a question to which… my philosophical system returns a negative answer… in elaborating the scheme of a happy existence, I have had to make a complete surrender of the higher metaphysical and ethical standpoint to which my own theories lead; and everything I say here will to some extent rest upon a compromise…”
Besides the “Wisdom of Life,” this book also contains brief essays under the section headings of “The Art of Literature,” and “Studies in Pessimism.”
He observes, “intellectual dullness is at the bottom of that vacuity of soul which is stamped on so many faces, a state of mind which betrays itself by a constant and lively attention to all the trivial circumstances in the external world. This is the true source of boredom---a continual panting after excitement, in order to have a pretext for giving the mind and spirits something to occupy them. The kinds of things people choose for this purpose show that they are not very particular, as witness the miserable pastimes they have recourse to, and their ideas of social pleasure and conversation; or again, the number of people who gossip on the doorstep or gape out of the window.” (Pg. 18-19)
He states, “…we come to see how superficial and futile are most people’s thoughts, how narrow their ideas, how mean their sentiments, how perverse their opinions, and how much of error there is in most of them… And if we ever have had an opportunity of seeing how the greatest of men will meet with nothing but slight from half-a-dozen blockheads, we shall understand that to lay great virtue upon what other people say is to pay them too much honor.” (Pg. 49-50)
He asserts, “The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his countrymen.” (Pg. 57)
He notes, “The value of posthumous fame lies in deserving it; and this is its own reward. Whether works destined to fame attain it in the lifetime of the author is a chance affair, of no very great importance. For the average man has no critical power of his own, and is absolutely incapable of appreciating the difficulty of a great work. People are always swayed by authority; and where fame is widespread, it means that ninety-nine out of a hundred take it on faith alone. If a man is famed far and wide in his own lifetime, he will, if he is wise, not set too much value upon it, because it is no more than the echo of a few voices, which the chance of a day has touched in his favor.” (Pg. 106)
He says, “only a really distinguished man will be able to produce anything worth reading; for the others will think nothing but what anyone else can think. They will just produce an impress of their own minds; but this is a print of which everyone possesses the original.” (Pg. 117-118)
He contends, “Most man of learning are very superficial. Then follows a new generation, full of hope, but ignorant, and with everything to learn from the beginning. It seizes, in its turn, just so much as it can grasp or find useful on its brief journey and then too goes its way. How badly it would fare with human knowledge if it were not for the art of writing and printing! This it is that makes libraries the only sure and lasting memory of the human race…” (Pg. 147)
This is certainly not one of Schopenhauer’s “major works,” but his writing style is as always clear and readable (if unduly cynical!), and this collection is well worth reading for anyone studying Schopenhauer.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was a German philosopher. He wrote in the Preface, “In these pages I shall speak of The Wisdom of Life in the common meaning of the term, as the art, namely, of ordering our lives so as to obtain the greatest possible amount of pleasure and success… Now whether human life corresponds… to this conception of existence, is a question to which… my philosophical system returns a negative answer… in elaborating the scheme of a happy existence, I have had to make a complete surrender of the higher metaphysical and ethical standpoint to which my own theories lead; and everything I say here will to some extent rest upon a compromise…”
Besides the “Wisdom of Life,” this book also contains brief essays under the section headings of “The Art of Literature,” and “Studies in Pessimism.”
He observes, “intellectual dullness is at the bottom of that vacuity of soul which is stamped on so many faces, a state of mind which betrays itself by a constant and lively attention to all the trivial circumstances in the external world. This is the true source of boredom---a continual panting after excitement, in order to have a pretext for giving the mind and spirits something to occupy them. The kinds of things people choose for this purpose show that they are not very particular, as witness the miserable pastimes they have recourse to, and their ideas of social pleasure and conversation; or again, the number of people who gossip on the doorstep or gape out of the window.” (Pg. 18-19)
He states, “…we come to see how superficial and futile are most people’s thoughts, how narrow their ideas, how mean their sentiments, how perverse their opinions, and how much of error there is in most of them… And if we ever have had an opportunity of seeing how the greatest of men will meet with nothing but slight from half-a-dozen blockheads, we shall understand that to lay great virtue upon what other people say is to pay them too much honor.” (Pg. 49-50)
He asserts, “The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his countrymen.” (Pg. 57)
He notes, “The value of posthumous fame lies in deserving it; and this is its own reward. Whether works destined to fame attain it in the lifetime of the author is a chance affair, of no very great importance. For the average man has no critical power of his own, and is absolutely incapable of appreciating the difficulty of a great work. People are always swayed by authority; and where fame is widespread, it means that ninety-nine out of a hundred take it on faith alone. If a man is famed far and wide in his own lifetime, he will, if he is wise, not set too much value upon it, because it is no more than the echo of a few voices, which the chance of a day has touched in his favor.” (Pg. 106)
He says, “only a really distinguished man will be able to produce anything worth reading; for the others will think nothing but what anyone else can think. They will just produce an impress of their own minds; but this is a print of which everyone possesses the original.” (Pg. 117-118)
He contends, “Most man of learning are very superficial. Then follows a new generation, full of hope, but ignorant, and with everything to learn from the beginning. It seizes, in its turn, just so much as it can grasp or find useful on its brief journey and then too goes its way. How badly it would fare with human knowledge if it were not for the art of writing and printing! This it is that makes libraries the only sure and lasting memory of the human race…” (Pg. 147)
This is certainly not one of Schopenhauer’s “major works,” but his writing style is as always clear and readable (if unduly cynical!), and this collection is well worth reading for anyone studying Schopenhauer.
December 7, 2019
It’s like the introvert’s ultimate guide for living.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews