The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~30,700 words · 146 passages
Cite this work
- APAArthur Schopenhauer. (n.d.). The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/schopenhauer/the-essays-of-arthur-schopenhauer-studies-in-pessimism
- MLAArthur Schopenhauer. "The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/schopenhauer/the-essays-of-arthur-schopenhauer-studies-in-pessimism.
- ChicagoArthur Schopenhauer. The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/schopenhauer/the-essays-of-arthur-schopenhauer-studies-in-pessimism.
What it is about
The pages where Schopenhauer says flatly that life is a business that does not cover its costs.
Context and history
On the Sufferings of the World, On the Vanity of Existence, On Suicide. This is the text that made pessimism a philosophical position with arguments rather than a mood. A note on the edition: Essays of Schopenhauer is not a book Schopenhauer wrote under that name. It is a selection of chapters from Parerga und Paralipomena (1851) made by the English editor, under a title of the editor's own. The text is Schopenhauer's; the book is not. This is an old English translation, in the public domain. The German original is also in the catalogue, and is what should be cited.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
The Essays here presented form a further selection from Schopenhauer's _Parerga_, brought together under a title which is not to be found in the original, and does not claim to apply to every chapter in the volume. The first essay is, in the main, a rendering of the philosopher's remarks under the heading of _Nachträge zur Lehre vom Leiden der Welt_, together with certain parts of another section entitled _Nachträge zur Lehre von der Bejahung und Verneinung des Willens zum Leben_. Such omissions as I have made are directed chiefly by the desire to avoid repeating arguments already familiar to readers of the other volumes in this series. The _Dialogue on Immortality_ sums up views expressed at length in the philosopher's chief work, and treated again in the _Parerga_. The _Psychological Observations_ in this and the previous volume practically exhaust the chapter of the original which bears this title. The essay on _Women_ must not be taken in jest. It expresses Schopenhauer's serious convictions; and, as a penetrating observer of the faults of humanity, he may be allowed a hearing on a question which is just now receiving a good deal of attention among us. T.B.S. ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD. Unless _suffering_ is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional; but misfortune in general is the rul