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Ideas of Arthur Schopenhauer, by Text

[German, 1788 - 1860, Born in Danzig. Educated in France and Britain. Taught at the University of Berlin. Retired in 1831, and settled in Frankfurt.]

1813 Abstract of 'The Fourfold Root'
Ch.I p.268 4187 'There is nothing without a reason why it should be rather than not be' (a generalisation of 'Why?')
Ch.IV p.270 4189 Time may be defined as the possibility of mutually exclusive conditions of the same thing
Ch.IV p.271 4190 All understanding is an immediate apprehension of the causal relation
Ch.VII p.274 4191 What we know in ourselves is not a knower but a will
Ch.VIII p.274 4192 All necessity arises from causation, which is conditioned; there is no absolute or unconditioned necessity
p.211-2 p.51 21368 The knot of the world is the use of 'I' to refer to both willing and knowing
1813 Fourfold Root of Princ of Sufficient Reason
p.20 21362 Necessity is physical, logical, mathematical or moral [Janaway]
p.21 21361 For Schopenhauer, material things would not exist without the mind [Janaway]
p.73 21920 No need for a priori categories, since sufficient reason shows the interrelations [Lewis,PB]
p.74 21921 Concepts are abstracted from perceptions [Lewis,PB]
§14 p.32-3 p.73 21918 Sufficient Reason can't be proved, because all proof presupposes it [Lewis,PB]
§16 p.41-2 p.73 21919 Object for a subject and representation are the same thing
§43 p.214 p.72 21917 The four explanations: objects by causes, concepts by ground, maths by spacetime, ethics by motive [Lewis,PB]
p.214 p.26 21363 Motivation is causality seen from within
1819 The World as Will and Idea
p.70 21370 Schopenhauer is a chief proponent of aesthetic experience as 'disinterested' [Janaway]
p.94 21923 Schopenhauer can't use force/energy instead of 'will', because he is not a materialist [Lewis,PB]
p.96 21926 Schopenhauer, unlike other idealists, says reality is irrational [Lewis,PB]
p.149 7187 Schopenhauer was caught in Christian ideals, because he didn't deify his 'will' [Nietzsche]
p.184 5649 Will casts aside each of its temporary fulfilments, so human life has no ultimate aim [Scruton]
p.620 8116 The will-less contemplation of art brings a liberation from selfhood [Gardner]
I 001 p.3 4162 The world only exists in relation to something else, as an idea of the one who conceives it
I 004 p.8 4163 All perception is intellectual
I 004 p.9 4164 Direct feeling of the senses are merely data; perception of the world comes with understanding causes
I 013 p.156 12171 Absurdity is incongruity between correct and false points of view
I 105 p.93 21922 We know reality because we know our own bodies and actions
I 110 p.37 21365 Only the will is thing-in-itself, seen both in blind nature and in human action
I 125 p.40 21367 I know both aspects of my body, as representation, and as will
I 196 p.71 21371 We can never attain happiness while our will is pursuing desires
I 201-7 p.116 21928 The Sublime fights for will-less knowing, when faced with a beautiful threat to humanity [Lewis,PB]
I 271 p.88 21374 We should no more expect ethical theory to produce good people than aesthetics to produce artists
I 417 App p.63 21913 Kant rightly separates appearance and thing-in-itself
I 428 p.39 21366 Metaphysics must understand the world thoroughly, as a principal source of knowledge
I Supp p.12 4165 Descartes found the true beginning of philosophy with the Cogito, in the consciousness of the individual
I Supp p.20 4167 The knowing subject and the crude matter of the world are both in themselves unknowable
I Supp p.20 4166 A consciousness without an object is no consciousness
I.Supp p.22 4168 Matter and intellect are inseparable correlatives which only exist relatively, and for each other
II p.111 21927 Schopenhauer emphasises Ideas in art, unlike most romantics [Lewis,PB]
II 018 p.32 4169 Every true act of will is also at once and without exception a movement of the body
II 023 p.45 4170 Man's actions are not free, because they follow strictly from impact of motive on character
II 027 p.69 4171 Philosophy considers only the universal, in nature as everywhere else
II 029 p.85 4172 Happiness is the swift movement from desire to satisfaction, and then again on to desire
II 210 p.59 21369 We have hidden and unadmitted desires and fears, suppressed because of vanity
II 605 p.110 21380 The only aim of our existence is to grasp that non-existence would be better
II Supp p.93 4173 If we were essentially intellect rather than will, our moral worth would depend on imagined motives
III 41 p.133 4174 Man is more beautiful than anything else, and the loftiest purpose of art is to reveal his nature
IV.54 p.179 4175 It is as perverse to resent our individuality being replaced by others, as to resent the body renewing itself
IV.55 p.190 4176 We all regard ourselves a priori as free, but see from experience that character and motive compel us
IV.59 p.204 4177 Most people would probably choose non-existence at the end of their life, rather than relive the whole thing
IV.59 p.206 4178 Christianity is a pessimistic religion, in which the world is equated with evil
IV.60 p.209 4179 The essence of nature is the will to life itself
IV.63 p.221 4180 Religion is the mythical clothing of the truth which is inaccessible to the crude human intellect
IV.65 p.224 4181 Every good is essentially relative, for it has its essential nature only in its relation to a desiring will
IV.65 p.225 4182 A principal pleasure of the beautiful is that it momentarily silences the will
IV.66 p.230 4183 Only self-love can motivate morality, but that also makes it worthless
IV.66 p.230 4184 Virtue must spring from an intuitive recognition that other people are essentially like us
IV.66 p.234 4185 Altruistic people make less distinction than usual between themselves and others
IV.68 p.241 4186 Everyone is conscious of all philosophical truths, but philosophers bring them to conceptual awareness
1841 On the Basis of Morality
p.192 p.98 21379 Man's three basic ethical incentives are egoism, malice and compassion
p.83 p.90 21375 Reason can be vicious, and great crimes have to be rational
p.96 p.92 21376 Philosophy treats animals as exploitable things, ignoring the significance of their lives
1841 On the Freedom of the Will
p.93-4 p.95 21378 We clearly feel responsible for our deeds, because we are quite certain that we did them
1851 Parerga and Paralipomena
I:1 p.117 21474 Metaphysics studies the inexplicable ends of explanation
I:1 p.117 21473 All knowledge and explanation rests on the inexplicable
I:12 p.119 21476 A priori propositions are those we could never be seriously motivated to challenge
I:9 p.118 21475 All of our concepts are borrowed from perceptual knowledge
II:415 p.71 21372 Aesthetics concerns how we can take pleasure in an object, with no reference to the will
III:37 p.122 21477 We don't control our own thinking
III:40 p.123 21478 Half our thinking is unconscious, and we reach conclusions while unaware of premises
III:43 p.125 21479 Knowledge is not power! Ignorant people possess supreme authority
III:50 p.126 21480 Boredom is only felt by those clever enough to need activity
IV:61 p.55 21470 For me the objective thing-in-itself is the will
IX:123 p.149 21485 The state only exists to defend citizens, from exterior threats, and from one another
IX:125 p.150 21486 Poverty and slavery are virtually two words for the same thing
IX:127 p.152 21487 The freedom of the press to sell poison outweighs its usefulness
VIII:110 p.133 21481 Buddhists wisely start with the cardinal vices
VIII:110 p.134 21482 The five Chinese virtues: pity, justice, politeness, wisdom, honesty
VIII:114 p.138 21483 Man is essentially a dreadful wild animal
VIII:118 p.144 21484 A man's character can be learned from a single characteristic action
XI:146 p.53 21469 Human life is a mistake, shown by boredom, which is direct awareness of the fact
XII:149 p.42 21466 Pleasure is weaker, and pain stronger, than we expect
XII:156 p.47 21467 Would humanity still exist if sex wasn't both desired and pleasurable?
XII:156 p.48 21468 The Creator created the possibilities for worlds, so should have made a better one than this possible
XIII:158 p.79 21471 If suicide was quick and easy, most people would have done it by now
XIX:205 p.155 21488 The beautiful is a perception of Plato's Forms, which eliminates the will
XV:174 p.95 21472 Only religion introduces serious issues to uneducated people
1855 Manuscript remains
I p.137 p.90 21924 As the subject of willing I am wretched, but absorption in knowledge is bliss
I p.47 p.66 21915 To deduce morality from reason is blasphemy, because it is holy, and far above reason
II p.241-3 p.68 21916 Philosophers can't be religious, and don't need to be; philosophy is perilous but free