Why this book?
- To become acquainted with Arthur Schopenhauer's most important philosophical work.
- To understand the central concept of the 'Will' in Schopenhauer's philosophy.
- To study his most influential work on modern philosophy and art.
- To recognize the connection between metaphysics, art, and ethics in Schopenhauer's thought.
About the book
The World as Will and Representation is Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophical masterpiece and the most important coherent expression of his system of thought, first published in 1819. Inspired by Kant's philosophy and relying on human inner and outer experience, this book presents a distinctive picture of the world; a world that, on one hand, appears as representation in our minds and, on the other, is rooted in a fundamental, unconscious force called the Will.
The first volume of the book expounds the fundamental idea of Schopenhauer's philosophy in four books and is completed with an appendix on the critique of Kant's philosophy. In this section, three important areas of his thought—the metaphysics of nature, the metaphysics of art, and the metaphysics of ethics—take shape.
The second volume is a collection of Schopenhauer's supplementary reflections on various philosophical subjects and is the result of years of his contemplation on the fundamental questions of life and humanity. This work is considered a foundational text for philosophy students, enthusiasts of nineteenth-century philosophy, and readers interested in questions of meaning, suffering, art, and human liberation.