: The "major Islamic philosophers," writes Deborah Black, "produced no works dedicated to aesthetics, although their writings do address issues that contemporary philosophers might study under that heading." The emergent theme in this essay is that classical Islamic philosophy may be studied within a framework of aesthetics. To achieve this goal, the metaphysics of Abu Hamid al-Ghazālī (1058–1111) and the aesthetics of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) will be brought together.

The paper is intended as a study in the philosophy of interpretation of Michael Krausz in relation to the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. The idea is to throw some new lights on Schopenhauer’s philosophy by critically examining thc works of Schopenhauer in the light of Krausz’s philosophy of interpretation. We shall examine the extent to which Krausz’s philosophy of interpretation could provide a framework of interpretation of the more or less enigmatic parts of constructive realism in Schopenhauer’s The World As (...) Will and Representation and On the Fourfold Root. In particular, I have discussed in my paper the specific problems of (i) bridging the gulf between the object-as-such and the object-of-interpretation in Krausz’s philosophy and (ii) the Will and the Representation in Schopenhauer’s philosophy. (shrink)

The Schopenhauers and England Danzig Arthur Schopenhauer was born in the then free city of Danzig on 22 February (Byron had been born in London on 22 ...

The affirmation of the will -- A tour for a trade -- A father's death : a philosopher's birth -- The university years -- The better consciousness, causes, grounds and confrontations -- Goethe, colors, and eastern lights -- The single thought of dresden -- Failure in Berlin -- Ich bin kein Berliner -- The Frankfurt philosopher -- The dawn of fame and the end of life.

This engaging work opens the door to a better understanding of Schopenhauer's philosophy for readers of all levels.

I present an interpretation of Schopenhauer's metaphysics that moderates between the positions of the advocates and critics of the standard view andthe standard objection. I contend that there are two senses of "thing-initself' in Schopenhauer's philosophy. I agree with the advocates of the standard view that the will is thing-in-itself, but only in a relative sense, i.e., the will is the thing-in-itself relative to other appearances. But I agree with the critics of the standard objection and deny that Schopenhauer's metaphysics (...) is open to the standard objection. (shrink)

Patrick Lancaster Gardiner is best known and most widely esteemed for his work on the nature of historical explanation. By addressing the problem of the limits of objectivity in relation to a variety of philosophical issues, he presciently identified the source of a number of philosophical disputes well before they had properly developed. This was certainly the case in Gardiner's treatment of historical explanation, and it is true also of his later treatment of the claims of the personal versus the (...) impersonal in ethical life. (shrink)

Many recent discussions of aesthetics have suggested that a genuine dialogue between philosophy and art is impossible. This essay aims to countersuch claims by arguing that philosophical thinking about art need not be either dismissive or domineering. The authors argue that a model for a productive dialogue between philosophy and art can be found by means of a comparative reading of two seemingly very different philosophies of art: those of Schopenhauer and Heidegger. The overall philosophical positions of these two thinkers (...) are often at odds with each other. However, a careful examination of their views of art reveals a fundamental connection between art and truth, a connection that makes artworks indispensable counterparts for philosophical thinking, without at the same time undermining their autonomy. (shrink)

This book is available either individually, or as part of the specially-priced Arguments of the Philosphers Collection.

This book is an introduction to the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, written in a lively, personal style.

The concept of death is of special importance in Schopenhauer''s metaphysics of appearance and Will. Death for Schopenhauer is the aim and purpose of life, that toward which life is directed, and the denial of the individual will to life. Despite his profound pessimism, Schopenhauer vehemently rejects suicide as an unworthy affirmation of the will to life by those who seek to escape rather than seek nondiscursive knowledge of Will in suffering. The only manner of self-destruction Schopenhauer finds philosophically acceptable (...) is the ascetic saint''s death by starvation. Here the individual will to life is so completely mastered as to refuse even the most basic desire for nourishment, and thereby passes into nonexistence in complete renunciation of the individual will. Schopenhauer''s attitude toward suicide nevertheless embodies an inconsistency. If, as Schopenhauer believes, the aim of life is death, and death is an unreal aspect of the world as appearance, then there appears to be no justification why the philosopher should not rush headlong into it - not to affirm the will to life in an abject effort to avoid suffering, but in order to fulfill life''s purpose by ending it for distinctly philosophical reasons immediately upon arriving at an understanding of the appearance-reality distinction. (shrink)

This collection brings together thirteen new essays by some of the most respected contemporary scholars of Schopenhauer's aesthetics from a wide spectrum of philosophical perspectives. The dynamics of the empirical will and Will as a thing-in-itself in the interplay of Schopenhauer's metaphysics and philosophy of fine art has important implications for the freedom, salvation, and tragic suffering of the artist, the representation of Platonic Ideas in art, and the role of artistic inspiration, emotion, and aesthetic pleasure in the beautiful and (...) sublime. These essays examine the unique theory Schopenhauer developed to explain the life and work of the artist, and the influence his aesthetic philosophy has had on subsequent artistic traditions in such diverse areas as music, painting, poetry, literature, and architecture. The authors present Schopenhauer's thought as a vital and enduring contribution to aesthetic theory, and to the idealist vision which continues to guide Romantic and neo-Romantic art. (shrink)

Schopenhauer is considered to be the most readable of German philosophers. This book gives a succinct explanation of his metaphysical system, concentrating on the original aspects of his thought, which inspired many artists and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer's central notion is that of the will--a blind, irrational force that he uses to interpret both the human mind and the whole of nature. Seeing human behavior as that of a natural organism governed by the will to life, (...) Schopenhauer developed radical insights concerning the unconscious and sexuality which influenced both psychologists and philosophers. (shrink)

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) is something of a maverick figure in the history of philosophy. He produced a unique theory of the world and human existence based upon his notion of will. This collection analyses the related but distinct components of will from the point of view of epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, aesthetics, ethics, and the philosophy of psychoanalysis. This volume explores Schopenhauer's philosophy of death, his relationship to the philosophy of Kant, his use of ideas drawn from both Buddhism (...) and Hinduism, and the important influence he exerted on Nietzsche, Freud, and Wittgenstein. (shrink)

This new collection enriches our understanding of Nietzsche's philosophy by examining his relationship with Schopenhauer. Eight leading scholars contribute specially written essays in which Nietzsche's changing conceptions of pessimism, tragedy, art, morality, truth, knowledge, religion, atheism, determinism, the will, and the self are revealed as responses to the work of the thinker he called his "great teacher.".

Janaway provides a detailed and critical account of Schopenhauer's central philosophical achievement: his account of the self and its relation to the world of objects. The author's approach to this theme is historical, yet is designed to show the philosophical interest of such an approach. He explores in unusual depth Schopenhauer's often ambivalent relation to Kant, and highlights the influence of Schopenhauer's view of self and world on Wittgenstein and Nietzsche, as well as tracing the many points of contact between (...) Schopenhauer's thought and current philosophical debates about the self. (shrink)

A problem arises in Schopenhauer’s claim that each individual person’s will, or intelligible character, is timeless. The principium individuationis depends upon spatio-temporal determinations governing the world as representation. As individual, one’s individual character would seem to depend upon spatio-temporalconditions. Yet, Schopenhauer adopts the Kantian distinction between empirical character and intelligible character, with the individual’s intelligible characterremaining the timeless Ding-an-sich, or will. In response to this problem, I proceed in four stages. First, I examine why Schopenhauer appropriated the Kantiandistinction between intelligible (...) and empirical character. Secondly, I argue in favor of the solution which indicates that, for Schopenhauer, each individual’s intelligible character is related to the Platonic Idea unique to that individual. In the third stage, I determine how the teleological claims in Schopenhauer’s doctrineof Ideas bear on the problem. In the fourth stage, I suggest how Schopenhauer’s account presents a phenomenology of the unity of consciousness. (shrink)