Friday, May 20, 2016

The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer

Since Schopenhauer intended readers to be familiar with his dissertation (On the fourfold root of the principle of sufficient reason) while reading his magnum opus (the world as will and representation), we have included both of the works in this post.  We have included the secondary sources on both of the primary sources in this post as well because often times authors address Schopenhauer's works together either implicitly or explicitly.








Primary Sources for "The World as Will and Representation":






1) Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Representation Volume 1. Trans. E. F. J. Payne. New York: Dover Publications Inc, 1969. Print.



2) Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Representation Volume 2. Trans. E. F. J. Payne. New York: Dover Publications Inc, 1969. Print.



3) Schopenhauer, Arthur. The world as Will and Representation Volume 1. Trans. Judith Norman and Alistair Welchman and Christopher Janaway. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.


For those who are unfamiliar with Project Gutenberg, it is a resource where over 52,000 free ebooks can be viewed and read in their entirety.  Since the works contained within Project Gutenberg are not protected under U.S. copyright law, we are allowed to distribute links directly to the published material.  However, we still cite the works appropriately for pedagogical purposes.

1) Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Idea Volume 1. Trans. R.B. Haldane and J. Kemp. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, (1909).


2) Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Idea Volume 2. Trans. R,B. Haldane and J. Kemp. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, (1909). 


3) Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Idea Volume 3. Trans. R,B. Haldane and J. Kemp. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, (1909). 

***Click here to go to a PDF version of this work


Primary Sources for "On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason."

1) 1) Schopenhauer, Arthur. On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason and Other Writings. Trans. David E. Cartwright, Edward E. Erdmann, and Christopher Janaway. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Print.


Note: There are other translations of this work out there which is confirmed by a simple Amazon search.  However, this particular compilation of translations is the most accessible of them all. Accessible meaning that the language of the translations has been updated for contemporary readers. Thus, we only list this set of translations for the foregoing reason.


Secondary Sources:

Books:

1) Wicks, Robert L. Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation: A Reader's Guide. London: Continuum Internation Publishing Group, 2011. Print.

2) Young Julian. Willing and Unwilling: A Study in the Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. Dordrecht: Springer, 1987. Print.

3) Magee, Bryan. The Philosophy of Schopenhauer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.
***Click here to go to Amazon.com to purchase this book

4) Atwell, John E. Schopenhauer on the Character of the World: The Metaphysics of Will. Berkely: University of California Press, 1995. Print.

***Click here to go to Amazon.com to purchase this book

5) Copleston, Frederick C. Copleston, Frederick C. Arthur Schopenhauer: Philosopher of Pessimism. London: Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1946. Print.

***Click here to go to Amazon.com to purchase this book

6) Gardiner, P. Schopenhauer. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963. Print.
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7) Hamlyn, D. W. Schopenhauer. London: Routledge, 1980. Print.

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8) Janaway, Christopher. Self and World in Schopenhauer’s Philosophy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. Print.

***Click here to go to Amazon.com to purchase this book

9) Tanner, Michael. Schopenhauer. London: Phoenix, 1998. Print.

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Journal Articles:

1) Snow, Dale E., and Snow, James J. "Was Schopenhauer an Idealist?" Journal of the History of Philosophy 29.4 (1991): 633-655. Web.

2) Ryan, Christopher. "Schopenhauer on Idealism, Indian and European." Philosophy East and West 65.1 (2015): 18-35. Web.

3) Humphrey, Ted. "Schopenhauer and the Cartesian Tradition." Journal of the History of Philosophy 19.2 (1981): 191-212. Web.

4) McDermid, D. "Schopenhauer as Epistemologist: a Kantian Against Kant." International Philosophical Quarterly  42.2 (2002): 209–29. Web.

5) Safranski, R. Schopenhauer and The Wild Years of Philosophy. Trans. E. Osers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990. Print.

6) Snow, D. and Snow J. (1991) "Was Schopenhauer an Idealist." Journal of the History of Philosophy 29.1 (1991): 633–55. Web.

7) Koßler, Matthias. "Life is but a Mirror: On the Connection between Ethics, Metaphysics and Character in Schopenhauer. European Journal of Philosophy 16.2 (2008): 230-250. Web.

8) Cabos, Jordi. "Schopenhauer and the malaise of an age." Philosophy and Social Criticism 42.1 (2016): 93-113. Web.

9) Migotti, Mark. "Schopenhauer's Pessimism and the Unconditioned Good." Journal of the History of Philosophy 33.4 (1995): 643-660. Web.

10) Luchte, James. "The Body of Sublime Knowledge: The Aesthetic Phenomenology of Arthur Schopenhauer. Heythrop Journal 50.2 (2009): 228-242. Web.

11) Vandenabeele, Bart. "Schopenhauer on Aesthetic Understanding and the Values of Art." European Journal of Philosophy 16.2 (2008): 194-210. Web.

12) Lewis, Peter B. "Schopenhauer's Laughter." Monist 88.1 (2005): 36-51. Web.

13) McDermind, Douglas J. "The World as Representation: Schopenhauer's Argument for Transcendental Idealism." British Journal for the History of Philosophy 11.1 (2003): 57-87. Web.


Video:

1) Bryan Magee and Frederick Copleston discuss Schopenhauer's philosophy.  The first half of this video is dedicated to explaining Schopenhauer's metaphysics and relationship to Kant.  This is helpful in order to wrap one's mind around what Schopenhauer is doing in The World as Will and Representation.  The latter half is dedicated to Schopenhauer's moral views and his influence on other thinkers.



2) This video by the School of Life is an overview of Schopenhauer's life and philosophy as presented in the "World as Will and Representation."  It does not go into much depth but suffices as a brief introduction for anyone not familiar with Schopenhauer.



3) This video was made by the Academy of Ideas.  It does a good job situating Schopenhauer's philosophy in its historical context as well as articulating the majority themes in his philosophy.



4) A satisfactory introduction to Schopenhauer's dissertation.


5) A satisfactory introduction to Schopenhauer's introduction to the "World as Will..."



6) Excellent overview of Schopenhauer's life and philosophy by Will Durrant.


7) These three videos are also excellent overviews of Schopenhauer's life and philosophy.  They are in German, however.







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