{"product_id":"arthur-schopenhauer-arthur-schopenhauer-9781934978726","title":"Arthur Schopenhauer: On the Experience of Life: Selection and Editor's Note by Jorge Pinto","description":"\u003cp\u003eArthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860) is an influential 19th Century philosopher whose works and ideas were followed by other important philosophers, particularly by Nietzsche, who viewed himself as Schopenhauer's successor. His work also influenced Freud's ideas on psychoanalysis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThomas Mann, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, in his long essay \u003cem\u003eSchopenhauer the Living Thoughts of Schopenhauer\u003c\/em\u003e, says the philosopher is a \"\u003cem\u003epsychologist of the will\u003c\/em\u003e\" and his works to run \u003cem\u003eby way of the psychological radicalism of Nietzsche, straight to Freud and the men who built up his psychology of the unconscious and applied it to the mental sciences.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing Thomas Mann's interpretation of Schopenhauer's ideas, it is not surprising to see Dr. Irvin D. Yalom, a well known psychotherapist and best selling author, choose Schopenhauer as a central character of one of his novels: \u003cem\u003eThe Schopenhauer Cure\u003c\/em\u003e. As in his other two novels based on prominent philosophers, Nietzsche and Spinoza, (\u003cem\u003eWhen Nietzsche Wept: A Novel Of Obsession\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Spinoza Problem: A Novel\u003c\/em\u003e)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI decided to include \"The Stages of Life\", of Schopenhauer's \u003cem\u003eCounsels and Maxims\u003c\/em\u003e in this volume. In this essay he considers that in our childhood we are more given to using our intellect than our will. Following that golden age or magic years of learning about the external world, Schopenhauer warns us that then \"... comes the great period of disillusion, a period of very gradual growth; but once it has fairly begun, a man will tell you that he has got over all his false notions \"l'âge des illusions est passé\". ..\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnother essay included in this anthology with the evocative title \u003cem\u003eOn Thinking for Oneself\u003c\/em\u003e is written in a didactic style. There, Schopenhauer expresses his strong opinions on the importance of discovering independently what is important for the creative mind. I consider this essay to be relevant in our political environment as well as in our personal and social lives, dominated by social media. In a time of excessive information and opinions that are shared and absorbed without thinking, the ideas contained in Schopenhauer's essay could not be more compelling and current.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing the same ideas, \u003cem\u003eOn Books and Reading, \u003c\/em\u003eanother essay included in this book, Schopenhauer can be perceived as an educator and not so much as a philosopher. Here he criticizes those who read for entertainment, as a pastime or for relaxation, consuming books without discerning what is good and what is not or, even worse, reading without assimilating the content. To make the point he uses the following example: \u003cem\u003eyou can ruin the stomach and impair the whole body by taking too much nourishment, so you can overfill and choke the mind by feeding it too much.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCharacter\u003c\/em\u003e is another Schopenhauer essay included in this book. He uses theater to show the contrast between the personality of a narcissistic individual that looks for honor and fame to those actors who only want to perform \"great parts: \".\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his essay \u003cem\u003eProperty, or What a Man Has\u003c\/em\u003e, Schopenhauer presents the idea of happiness, one of the many topics we often find in his works. Here, the philosopher presents the link between money or wealth and a happy life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFinally, in \u003cem\u003eThe Metaphysics of Art\u003c\/em\u003e, also included in this anthology, Schopenhauer gives an effective path to fight the \"Will\", which is one of the bases of his philosophy. The \"Will\", which is in conflict with the intellect, constitutes a series of needs that are an unavoidable part of the human condition and the source of unhappiness, frustration and suffering since what the \"Will\" commands can never be entirely satisfied.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Arthur Schopenhauer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1934978728\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781934978726\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Jorge Pinto Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/17\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 142\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.48lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.33d","brand":"Arthur Schopenhauer","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48241570218239,"sku":"9781934978726","price":9.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c3b011bf-b064-426a-8b67-20e560be3445.jpg?v=1772655044","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/arthur-schopenhauer-arthur-schopenhauer-9781934978726","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}