The Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer is characterized as that of Pessimistic Voluntaristic Idealism. Schopenhauer was a pessimistic post Kantian philosopher. In most of his lifetime Schopenhauer's and his work was largely ignored. During the first half of the 19th century his work was not regarded as significant. The pendulum swung in Schopenhauer's favor during the latter of the 19th century when he work was much in vogue. During the first half of the 20th century Schopenhauer was once again profoundly neglected and ignored in the study of philosophy. It seems that once again Schopenhauer is returning to favor, however, and this is perhaps due to the reality of his significant influence upon the thought and work of Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Schopenhauer was born in 1788 to rich merchant parents. He was trained to be an international businessman, but the lifestyle had no appeal for Schopenhauer. Rather he insisted on attending the university and financed a lifetime of independent study and writing thru the resources provided by the benefits of his parent's success. His doctoral thesis was entitled, "On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason" and while yet in his 2's he composed his masterpiece entitled, "The World as Will and Representation." From that point until his death in 1860 at the age of 72 Schopenhauer published few essays, which were largely aimed at continuing, his thought laid down in the two previous works. He published two short books on ethics, one entitled, "The Basis of Morality" and the other entitled, "The Freedom of the Will." Most importantly, however, was the republication of his Magnum Opus, "The World as Will and Representation" which was twice the length of the original work.
Schopenhauer presented a sophisticated exploration of key Kantian themes such as Kant's concept of "things as they are in themselves" and the Kantian idea of "things as they appear to be." Schopenhauer took these Kantian themes and united them with certain aspects of Eastern Religious philosophy and in the process introduced eastern religious philosophical concepts to the Western for the first time. Schopenhauer was genuinely knowledgeable of Hinduistic and Buddhistic thought and attempted to draw serious parallels between eastern and western philosophical-religious perspectives.
Schopenhauer was also the first western philosopher to be atheistic and in addition, he placed great emphasis on the arts. He devoted more attention to the role and the legitimacy of the arts than any other western philosopher. In addition he was one of the supreme writers of German prose. Schopenhauer's work reveals the individual who is a system builder and whose philosophy can only be understood as a whole.
