Arthur Schopenhauer - by David Bather Woods (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Although the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer spent most of his life in relative obscurity, by his final decade he was counted among the most famous philosophers in all of Europe. A singular and remarkably influential thinker, Schopenhauer is usually described as an extreme pessimist. He saw existence as fundamentally without purpose in a world in which human desires can only be satisfied in a fleeting sense. This book reevaluates Schopenhauer's pessimism in the context of his life experiences, revealing the philosopher's relentless fascination with the world and making a case for his contemporary relevance. Despite his pessimistic outlook on human existence, Schopenhauer didn't give up after concluding that we live in a world full of endless suffering. Rather, he recognized that the question of how to live becomes even more pressing, and he worked to provide an answer. In this book, David Bather Woods shows how Schopenhauer used his unique intellectual freedom to take on a wide range of worldly issues that continue to matter to us today, including mental health, education, sex, gender, punishment, loneliness, race, fame, and death. This book tells the story of how the events of Schopenhauer's life informed his original stances on these issues, and how his answers to many of life's most pressing questions still resonate today"--

Book Synopsis

An engaging biography of one of the most influential Western philosophers and a thought-provoking exploration of how to live with Arthur Schopenhauer's pessimism.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) almost wasn't one of the greatest philosophers of the nineteenth century. Born in the Free City of Danzig to a family of shipping merchants, he was destined for a life of imports and exports until his father died in a suspected suicide. After much deliberation, the young Schopenhauer invested his inheritance in himself and his philosophical vocation. But the long road to recognition was a difficult one, with Schopenhauer spending all but the last decade of his life in total obscurity. Yet his ideas and style went on to influence great thinkers, including Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Sigmund Freud, as well as artists such as the composer Richard Wagner and writers Marcel Proust, Thomas Mann, Samuel Beckett, and many more.

A singular and remarkably influential thinker, Schopenhauer is usually described as an extreme pessimist. He questioned the purpose of existence in a world where pain and suffering are inescapable and happiness is all too brief. In this engaging philosophical biography, David Bather Woods reevaluates Schopenhauer's pessimism in the context of his life experiences, revealing the philosopher's relentless fascination with the world and making a case for his contemporary relevance. Bather Woods weaves together Schopenhauer's ideas with the story of how he came to be, including such topics as love, loneliness, morality, politics, gender, sexuality, death, suicide, fame, and madness. In doing so, this book answers some of life's most challenging questions about how to deal with pain and loss, and how to live with ourselves and each other.

Despite his pessimistic outlook on human existence, Schopenhauer didn't give up on life. Rather, he recognized that the question of how to live becomes even more pressing, and he worked to provide an answer. Bather Woods shows how Schopenhauer's life informed his ideas and how they still resonate today.

Review Quotes

"After, clearly, a long immersion in Schopenhauer's life, [Bather Woods] brings him forth as a living, breathing figure for whom, in spite of the sexism, racism, conservatism and general gloom, one can feel considerable affection. Abandoning strict chronology, the book has a sophisticated literary structure and is extremely well written. It will delight."-- "Society"

"In Arthur Schopenhauer, Bather Woods provides a compassionate and philosophically sharp portrait of the great pessimist. Bather Woods teases out several threads in Schopenhauer's thought that others have overlooked as he shows how Schopenhauer's struggles and (abundant) personal flaws helped him see to the heart of the human condition. This book offers a humanizing introduction for readers new to Schopenhauer and a distinctive and subtle rereading of his thought for specialists."--Colin Marshall, University of Washington

"In the style of Andrea Wulf and Sue Prideaux, Bather Woods brings to life the world of ideas that allowed, and forced, Arthur Schopenhauer to become who he was: proto-existentialist, pessimist par excellence, fierce realist. Bather Woods's portrait is bracing and honest--a call to see the world as it is rather than how we imagine it to be and an invitation to know ourselves, warts and all."--John Kaag, author of 'Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are'

"The time is ripe for a reevaluation of Arthur Schopenhauer, and I can't imagine a better guide to his life and work than Bather Woods who, like his subject, writes with enviable clarity and wit and wears his scholarship lightly. Schopenhauer may have been somewhat gloomy in outlook, but this book is a joy to read."--Nigel Warburton, author of A Little History of Philosophy

"This brilliant and vivid biography invites us to rediscover Schopenhauer as not just a pessimist, but as a daring and original thinker who confronted life's hardest question: Is it worth living? With clarity, wit, and philosophical depth, Bather Woods explores how Schopenhauer's ideas continue to resonate with the challenges we face today."--Emily Herring, author of 'Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People'