One of the greatest philosophers of the 19th century, Schopenhauer is best known for his writings on pessimism. In this 1851 essay collection, he offers concise statements of the unifying principles of his thinking. These essays offer an accessible approach to his main thesis, as stated in The World as Will and Representation.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fellow-masks and fellow-sufferers,
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This review is from: Suffering, Suicide and Immortality: Eight Essays from The Parerga (The Incidentals) (Philosophical Classics) (Paperback)
These eight texts from the Parerga are an excellent introduction to Schopenhauer's work, his pessimistic worldview (`the burden of existence'), his phenomenal psychological and philosophical insights, his stances on reason, religion, commerce and education, and his unacceptable misogyny.
Man's life, good and evil Man's life is a task, the task of subsisting at all. Its material basis is simply health, food, protection from wet and cold, the satisfaction of the sexual instinct. It is full of pain, with a few pleasures and with a continually pressing Time, like a taskmaster with a whip. Man is a continual Becoming, never a Being and it all ends in vain with a sure death. Evil is what is positive, while good is negative. Happiness and satisfaction always imply some desire fulfilled, some state of pain brought to an end. Man, reason, suicide, commerce The real meaning of `persona' is mask: nobody shows himself as he really is. The whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy. For man, reason is a prophet, because it shows the consequences and effects of his actions. There is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person (habeas corpus). Those whose one aim in life is to fill their purses are miserable wretches. Religion, ascetism There are two things which make it impossible to believe that this world is the successful work of an all-wise, all-good, and all-powerful Being: firstly, the misery which abounds in it everywhere; and secondly, the obvious imperfection of its highest product, man. Ascetism is the denial of the will to live. Education Instead of developing the child's own faculties of discernment and of teaching it to judge and think for itself, the teacher uses all his energies to stuff its head full of ready-made thoughts of other people, in order to imprint prejudices which will paralyze it forever. Misogyny Schopenhauer's vision on women as being lifelong big children was the main theme in Guy de Maupassant's brilliant bundle of short stories "Le Verrou'. A club of indulgent fellow-masks The conviction that the world and man is something that had better not have been, is of a kind to fill us with indulgence towards our fellow-sufferers. The most necessary things in life are tolerance, patience, regard and love of neighbor, of which everyone stands in need and which, therefore, every man owes to his fellow-masks. The influence of Schopenhauer's vision on man, on art and more specifically on literature, cannot be overestimated. Highly recommended to all fellow-masks and fellow-sufferers.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This man was not a happy camper,
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This review is from: Suffering, Suicide and Immortality: Eight Essays from The Parerga (The Incidentals) (Philosophical Classics) (Paperback)
This short work contains translated excerpts of the thought of Schopenhauer. It includes a misogynstic section on women in which he argues that women are incapable of real creative work or intellectual activity. It also includes his discussion of Life in which he expresses the opinion that it is largely a loser, a mistake. In fact his whole conception is that mankind's creation was a kind of mistake. In this regard he argues against a basic tenet of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and sings the praises of suicide.
Schopenhauer seems to lack an appreciation of the variety and richness of human activity and capacity for pleasure. He sees humans as perpetually dissatisfied, fundamentally unhappy, miserable. He who was so bent on prophesying the Decline of the West, did not foresee any of the remarkable signs of human progress, including lengthening and healthier life spans which are part of the twentieth century story. There is a tremendous amount of suffering in the world. It is right to believe that each and every human being suffers disappointment in life. But there is also much happiness and goodness and well- being in human life which this man was simply incapable of seeing. As a guide to life he is a very poor guru.
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