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Frank Odrobina 

Section #5

Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer was born in Danzig, Prussia (Gdansk, Poland) in 1788 and died in 1860. He was the son of the wealthy merchant Heinrich Floris Schopenhauer. During his childhood he traveled around most of Europe with his family. He earned the doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Jena in 1813. His main work The World as Will and Representation was published in 1819.

The World as Will and Representation is comprised of four books. The first two books explain Schopenhauer's philosophical ideas as to the nature of the world. The last two books explain his ethical ideas. His main idea was that the world has two parts:Will and Representation. Representation is how we perceive the world through our senses. He says the world is only comprehensible with the help of the constructs of man's intellect. These are things such as space, time, and causality. He says that Representation, however, is not the actual word. It is only a "Representation", as the name implies. Schopenhauer called the true nature of the world Will. He said Will was the basis of everything. Everything is part if the Will. He described will as the blind driving force behind everything from inorganic nature to the rational actions of man. 

Schopenhauer's philosophical ideas of ethics are based on Will and Representation. He did not see Will as an intelligent being or god, but as a blind force. This lead to him having a very pessimistic view of life. He said that Will causes people to constantly strive towards desires and goals. However when people reach that goal or desire, they find that they still want more. This leaves people with  constant desires that can never be fully fulfilled and in the end, everyone is in a constant state of misery. Schopenhauer said that we can briefly escape this misery through art, such as appreciating a beautiful painting or listening to a good song.

Here are two videos that explain Schopenhauer's ideas more in-depth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNDw9lO8uKg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypOtX1kEo8U

Here are my sources for the information:

https://www.friesian.com/arthur.htm

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arthur-Schopenhauer

Here are two final reports I posted on:

https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-stoic-and-i.html

https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2020/05/final-post-erin-rone-section-05.html

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