Abstract

This study explores Arthur Schopenhauer's influence on Ludwig Wittgenstein's early philosophy. I show that Wittgenstein constructed many sections of his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by amplifying, modifying, and criticizing Schopenhauer's ideas. By reconstructing these lines of influence I illuminate several dark passages in the Tractatus and clarify some historical-conceptual connections between Kant, Schopenhauer, and Wittgenstein. ;The Introduction to this dissertation discusses Wittgenstein's curious refusal to acknowledge his debt to Schopenhauer. The next three chapters offer detailed textual evidence of Schopenhauer's impact on the Tractatus. Wittgenstein's critique of metaphysical nonsense, as well as his distinction between saying and showing, have parallels in Schopenhauer's work; Wittgenstein's conception of the metaphysical subject and his world are rooted in his selective appropriation of Schopenhauer's magnum opus, The World As Will And Representation; the concluding sections of the Tractatus reformulate Schopenhauer's view of beauty, virtue, and the meaning of life. The Postscript to this work points to a problematic implication of Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein: the Tractatus is open to some of the criticisms that Nietzsche directs against Schopenhauer