Just Finished Reading: Schopenhauer – A Very Short Introduction

As with most of the philosophers I read about in this excellent VSI series I’d heard of Schopenhauer before and knew a little about his ideas. This book certainly filled in a lot of the blanks in my knowledge, though still only really managed to scratch the surface of his work.

Like other German philosophers of the 19th Century, Schopenhauer thought long and very hard about the difference between appearance and reality. To be honest the whole idea kind of leaves me cold and I ploughed my way through the first few chapters on this subject – well told that they were – with slightly gritted teeth. I did find his idea of embodiment and the Will as somewhat more interesting, especially as it seemed to foreshadow much of Nietzsche’s work. It is also interesting, especially taking the times into account, that Schopenhauer wrote on sex and sexuality appearing to ‘discover’ the unconscious some years before Freud brought it to prominence. What interested me most, as it has long been a particular focus of my philosophical readings, were his ideas on Ethics which seemed to me rather Stoical. It is something that I will try to follow up at some point.

While this small volume didn’t exactly set my world on fire, it did pique my interest in Schopenhauer enough to want to know more about his ideas. In that sense this book did its job. Some of the arguments I did find a little too dense for my brain to get around but, it would seem, that’s the German philosophers for you. To be honest, from what I’ve read I still far prefer the French way of things – with the possible exception of Nietzsche who I’m still struggling with. I can kind of recommend this book if you want to bend your mind more than a little. If I read anything better on him I’ll be sure to let you know.