Schopenhauer's Thoughts (New Edition)

Author: Arthur Schopenhauer (Germany), translated by Wei Qichang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Schopenhauer was a German philosopher. Due to his deep sensitivity to human suffering and his extreme pessimism about life, he was known as the "philosopher of pessimism." He opposed Hegel's absolute idealism and was a pioneer of the new "life" philosophy. This book selects 11 essays from Volume 2 and Volume 4 of The Collected Works of Arthur Schopenhauer that are closely related to our secular life, discussing topics such as education, genius, beauty, psychological musings, fate, and love. These essays reflect the author's unique insights on education, genius, aesthetics, fate, and love, shining with the wisdom of Schopenhauer's thought. Although the book covers a wide range of topics, the underlying ideological thread is clearly discernible. The extraordinary talent of this "language artist" (a praise from Franz Kafka) lies in wrapping truth in the cloak of simple language, allowing it to exert its inherent shock power directly. Because of its depth, it is simple; because of its simplicity, it is even more profound. Nietzsche described reading Schopenhauer's works as reaching a "forest highland—where we deeply breathe fresh air, feel refreshed and rejuvenated" (Untimely Meditations). This collection of representative essays is only a small part of Schopenhauer's philosophical works, but these essays touch upon multiple aspects, including philosophy, ethics, psychology, sexology, aesthetics, pedagogy, metaphysics, and religion, enough to let us appreciate the intellectual charm of this "undoubtedly genius" (a remark by Tolstoy). Not only does the essay The Will truly contain more psychological knowledge than many systematic psychological works, as Schopenhauer himself said, but even the brief On Education, with its concise thousands of words on the purpose and methods of education, can it be compared to those lengthy and unfocused major works on pedagogy? The difference between a true intellectual genius and a mere erudite scholar is thus vividly illustrated.