Rating: 
Summary: Eloquent, masterly essays.
Review: A recapitulation of Schopenhauer's key ideas, such as the vanity of earthly existence and the suffering in the world, along with some engrossing sections on suicide, religion and psychology. The notorious essay on women, I must say, contains some hilarious views which some may now find backward but - (and I dare say this!) - I found myself perfectly in agreement with Schopenhauer with regards to the character of the weaker sex. Otherwise the wit, the erudition, the breadth of scope, are all the marks of a truly great mind and an undisputed master of prose style. I wouldn't recommend this abridged version, though, since it grubbily truncates the essays and the final effect is altogether diluted. However, if one can't get hold of the unabridged one, this edition is an entertaining enough read and deserves a glance.
Rating: 
Summary: one of the greatest philosophers to ever live
Review: arthur schopenhauer is, without a doubt, one of the most important, poetic, talented, brilliant, and also humorously misanthropic thinkers to ever live. his writing is so brilliant that i have trouble understanding that why his greatest admirer friedrich nietzsche is so much more well known and constantly discussed than he is. i would say that they are both on the same par, ingenious equals who are indispensable in terms of philosophical greatness and force of personality. these essays and aphorisms are so vivid and beautifully written that not only is the attentive reader riveted by his thoughts and theories, but even temporarily convinced by his extreme cynicism and pessimism? i am one of those who see schopenhauer's dark view of life and the world as less temperamental and more grounded in reality than many scholars and biographers of the man like to admit. schopenhauer is perhaps, along with nietzsche and other monumental evolutionary thinkers like bergson and stirner, one of the most prophetic and simply gigantic men to ever live. he is, as the back of this particular edition of his aphorisms and essay says, "aware that everything might not be all for best." no false optimism or transcendentalism here, and no sugary coating on the disturbing truths of man's isolation and confusion in a universe that seems to be purposeless, indifferent, and entirely ephemeral. he rails bitterly against the majority of human beings with the hatred and resentment of one who, as a result of his brilliance and intellectual genius, been ostracized and at times actively abused by the more mediocre and less passionate masses all through his life. schopenhauer's greatest and most vital characteristic is his uncompromising intellectual integrity and his refusal to ignore the very real and in fact almost immobilizing fact of horrendous evil and senseless, unjustified human suffering. his philosophy of renunciation and asceticism, which he in no way actually lived or practiced personally, is the only flaw or inconsistency i can find in his work, and like nietzsche i would say that it is the result of weakness and lack of courage rather than logical thinking or supposed 'objectivity'. also unique is schopenhauer's stubborn belief and recognition that only the present actually exists, and that 'the future' is an illusory projection we create to make up for the inevitable and inescapable dissatisfaction and perpetual disillusion with the here and now. he doesn't offer any fictitious solutions or illusions of salvation which cannot be verified empirically, and he exhorts the individual to stand apart from the crowd of people and realize their potential while understanding that he or she will never attain to what the majority of people pursue frantically, perfect happiness. "in this existence, in which no perfect state exists and satisfaction can only be relative and minimal, we must aim less for the delusion of positive pleasure and more for the securing of our safety and the careful avoidance of suffering or impoverishment." truer words have never been spoken. it is, as with all legendary artists and thinkers, as if arthur schopenhauer is sitting in your room and talking to you himself--such is the power of his incredibly accurate and poignant commentary on our existence and it's ultimate meaninglessness and emptiness.
Rating:
Summary: Pessimism isn't bad, what's wrong with the truth?
Review: His essays on "The Suffering of the World" and "The Vanity of Existance" are two of the best essays i've ever read, not to mention his other classic "On Suicide." Schopenhauer is great at explaining things, well at least I think so, take for instance this quote from "On Suicide": "Christianity carries in its innermost heart the truth that suffering is the true aim of life: that is why it repudiates suicide, which is opposed to this aim, while antiquity from a lower viewpoint approved of and indeed honored it... It therefore seems that the extraordinary zeal in opposing it displayed by the clergy of monotheistic religions- a zeal which is not supported by the Bible or by any cogent reasons- must have some hidden reasons behind it: may this not be that the voluntary surrender of life is an ill compliment to him who said that all things were very good? If so, it is another instance of the obligatory optimism of these religions, which denounces self-destruction so as not to be denounced by it." Of course in order to fully appreciate that quote you'd have to read the whole essay, but I think it's a good sample. His philosophies are pretty pessimistic, but like my title says, what's wrong with the truth?
Rating:
Summary: Tons of Wisdom Economically Packaged.
Review: I wasn't surprised to see all the 5 star ratings of this collection of essays by Schopenauer. It's the kind of book you regret is over once you're finished. It's a very accessible way to discover Schopenhauer, warts and all, without having to get bogged down in some of his more laborious, convoluted pieces. Scopenhauer is one of the world's great philosophers, but is probably under read due to the complexity and pedantic nature of his more extensive works. This casual collection of essays allows the reader to get to know a little about Schopenauer and his philosophy. Are humans immortal in any way? Well, yes. Schopenauer, who unlike many of his western European counterparts, studied eastern as well as western philosophy, and it shows in the essay "On the Indestructability of our Essential Being by Death." As Eastern philosophers have suggested for some time, matter is conserved rather than 'created or destroyed,' so of course we live on in terms of our physical selves, since our 'physical selves' is what we essentially are. Mentally however, once the atoms of our brains etc. dissolve, we are no more, and as Schopenhauer puts it, such a "question whether we exist [mentally] after death [has no] meaning," like the idea that negative length has no meaning. In a line that couldn't have been said better by any modern, Schopenauer says that indeed "consciousness is extinguished by death...But cheer up! [Schopenhauer a pessimist?]...this consciousness is, in its origin and aim, merely an expedient for helping the animal to get what it needs. The state to which death restores us, on the other hand, is our original state, i.e. is the being's intrinsic state." hmmmmm! I wonder if Freud attributed his own 'death wish' hypothesis to Schopenhauer. If he didn't, he should have. So here we have, no, death doesn't really happen physically, but to the extent it does mentally, its more of a return to an original state, and now worth worrying too much over in the long run. Although the lion's share of Schopenhauer's philosophy is dedicated to demosntrating the necessary idealism of the human mind, he was a materialist of the most pragmatic sort, as evidenced in lines from "On Various Subjects," where he speaks of the "false antithesis between mind and matter....[declaring that] all ostensible mind can be attributed to matter...[that mental] life is only a semblance, an illusion, and every creature is in reality a mere automaton, i.e. a play of mechanical, physical and chemical forces." Of course we, and other animals, are not just agglomerations of chemicals as are rocks, for we also have a 'will' that directs our life actions. This is for Schopenhauer and emergent property of the physical parts of our bodies and not, as Bergson suggested, some distinct, mysterious substance. On one more nonpessimistic note, Schopenhauer comments on Hesiod's interpretation of the myth of Pandora's box, saying "it is not all the evil but all the good things of the world which Pandora had in her box (as her name already indicates). When Epimetheus rashly opened it the good things flew out and away: Hope alone was saved and still remains with us." Schopenhauer a pessimist? If you can get past Schopenhauer's misogyny, this is a neat little book of wisdom for the philosophically minded and nonphilosopher alike.
Rating:
Summary: The Doom or Dumber Question
Review: On pages 61 through 79 of SCHOPENHAUER / ESSAYS AND APHORISMS, Translated by R.J. Hollingdale, we find the most mature consideration in philosophy of the topics "On Affirmation and Denial of the Will to Live," "On the Indestructibility of Our Essential Being by Death," and "On Suicide." Schopenhauer is particularly concerned about religious views, considering a number of major doctrines, including the condemnation of suicide, for which his answer to religion is that suicide must be condemned with extraordinary zeal by those who are stuck with the view "that all things were very good" (p. 78) in order that the voluntary death of one or more people who did not agree might not be considered a reproach of those who continue to live: It is another instance of the obligatory optimism of these religions, which denounces self-destruction so as not to be denounced by it. (p. 78). The Doom or Dumber Question goes right to the heart of the inability of people collectively clinging to religious or philosophical concepts to make any essential determinations about how the future is going to blow their minds all over again. Religion and philosophy may compete in the ability to express "affirmation of the will to life, through which life is assured for all time, however swiftly its figures and forms may succeed one another." (p. 62). The events of September 11, 2001 were such a contrast to the expectations of most of the victims that it is a challenge to understand them in the context of the perpetrators, who exhibited a desire to thwart such expectations. As Schopenhauer put it, "The other, by symbols of suffering and death, expresses denial of the will to life and redemption from a world in which death and the Devil reign." (p. 62). By allowing himself to represent grace for those who are "capable of thinking a little more deeply," (p. 63) it is easy for Schopenhauer to assume superiority "to those who refuse to penetrate to the heart of the matter but prefer its superficialities." (p. 63). People who aren't sure of anything except that they are killing people are in danger of being able to agree with Schopenhauer on the point, "That our existence itself implies guilt is proved by the fact of death." (p. 63). Later, he is willing to grant eternity in those who are capable of being the whatever who anyone is: The more clearly you become conscious of the frailty, vanity and dream-like quality of all things, the more clearly will you also become conscious of the eternity of your own inner being; because it is only in contrast to this that the aforesaid quality of things becomes evident, just as you perceive the speed at which a ship is going only when looking at the motionless shore, not when looking into the ship itself. (pp. 68-69). That ship is probably not as famous as the Titanic, but Schopenhauer's work was published by 1851, long before anyone could have guessed what was going to happen to the Kursk when underwater explosions became a risk that modern sailors could die from in large numbers. History might show that a few more ships sunk, too, but instead of going into the risks of navigation, Schopenhauer's interest in a deep philosophy took him a long way from really caring about any individual: Individualities are a matter of indifference to the will; it is not concerned with them, although it seems to be so, because the individual has no knowledge of it except in himself. (p. 76). That might usually be true, but one of the interesting things about September 11, 2001 was how a few events on that day really made a lot of people wonder what the perpetrators were thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Must read. It could change the world
Review: oustanding. I am speechless. This is a fine author that ought to be read almost everyday of our lives. I am glad I've had the chance to read Schopenhauer. Don't waste your life. Read it today. Start with this book and then move to his other publications. Hard to stop thinking/reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Philosophy for Melancholy Youth
Review: So wrote Nietzsche about his mentor Schopenhauer. This Penguin Classics edition, though comprized mainly of short exerpts, is nontheless an excellent overview of the great thinkers main ideas.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant & Provocative
Review: The one overriding fault I tend to find in western philosophers of the last couple centuries stems from the strange-but-prevalent affliction coequally termed `diarrhea of the pen.' I suppose verboseness is to be expected, after all: most (if not all) of these famed deep thinkers are attempting to condense/define the human experience within the vast ocean of existence itself; given these parameters and the innumerable tangents available, it is no real surprise then that those of philosophic bent tend to express their concepts in complicated and convoluted form. If nothing else, it keeps the proles away in droves (j/k)--but seriously, it also makes reading these conceptions a tedious task; it off-times seems to me that Kant, Hegel et al would have benefited greatly from the presence of a stern editor. But here we have an innovation! Penguin Classics has published an abridged version of Arthur Schopenhauer's _Parerga and Paralipomena_ into this nice digestible volume, _Essays and Aphorisms_. R.J. Hollingdale's translation is a clear, lucid read, and with the repetition and grandiloquence removed, the pessimistic outlook of Herr Schopenhauer gains a keen sharpness; his controversial musings cut quick and to the bone. As for the material itself...well, let's take a look: "The social structure, the state, will stand quite firm only when it is founded on an universally recognized metaphysical system. Such a system can naturally be only one of folk-metaphysics, that is, religion: ...the social structure could hardly exist at all if religion did not lend weight to the government's authority and the ruler's dignity..." (On Religion: A Dialogue, pg. 109) "...as the weaker sex, [women] are driven to rely not on force but on cunning: hence their instinctive subtlety and their ineradicable tendency to tell lies: for, as nature has equipped the lion with claws and teeth, the elephant with tusks, the wild boar with fangs (etc), so it has equipped women with the power of dissimulation as her means of attack and defense..." (On Women, pg. 83) "A constitution embodying nothing but abstract justice would be a wonderful thing, but it would not be suited to beings such as men. Because the great majority of men are in the highest degree egoistic, unjust, inconsiderate, deceitful, sometimes even malicious, and equipped moreover with very mediocre intelligence, there exists a need for a completely unaccountable power..." (On Law and Politics, pg. 152-153) "States of human happiness and good fortune can as a rule be compared with certain groups of trees: seen from a distance they look beautiful, but if you go up to and into them their beauty disappears and you can no longer discover it. That is why we so often feel envy for other people." (On Psychology, pg.171) "Few write as an architect builds, drawing up a plan beforehand and thinking it out down to the smallest details. Most write as they play dominoes: their sentences are linked together as dominoes are, one by one, in part deliberate, in part by chance." (On Writing, pg. 207) This is great stuff, people, whether you agree with Schopenhauer's statements or not. Brilliant & provocative, and an enjoyable read as well. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Food for thought, spleen, heart and soul!
Review: This book is a classic. I cart it around everywhere- so much so that my wife took to calling me 'Schopey,' soon after we met. Oh what a kidder... The text in question is basically an abbreviated form of "Parerga and Paralipomena," a collection of, you guessed it, essays and aphorisms that Arthur published towards the end of his life. In fact, he owed much of his rising popularity to these little bits of brain, blood and bile- they paved the way for the interest in his earlier, more thorough and more intimidating work- 'The World as Will and Representation,' his central text. Intense, brooding, and enthrallingly lucid (a trait much lacking in philosophy in general and German philosophy in particular), these little pensees and barbs will provide you with much enjoyment, quotes, quips and boundless food for thought. If you are at all the kind of person who enjoys reading, or if you are buying books with such a person in mind (and if you weren't I don't see how you would have ended up here) I cannot say enough good things about this tiny volume! Whether or not you agree with Schopenhauer's central philosophic themes, his high-jacking/hybridization of Kantian metaphysics and Eastern Vedic/Buddhist Scripture, his pessimistic misanthropy, his irrational and intuitive bent, his (huge) influence on psychology and psychoanalysis, his dismissal of Judeo-Christian religion, or his overbearing arrogance- he is not a thinker to be dismissed lightly. I disagree with him on practically everything important (as did Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy notwithstanding), except his scathing misanthropy and his views on opera (page 163, an 'unmusical invention for unmusical minds...'), but so what? He's still a wonderful encounter. His views, maxims and opinions are straightforwardly put with such all the deceptive elegance of a minor key Chopin Nocturne. A refreshing break from the tireless jargon-juggling of contemporary, pomo, academic charlatans... And the man was brilliant. The kind of brilliance that engenders humility in readers and makes young, would-be philosophers reconsider their choice of profession. You cannot help but enter into dialogue with this man... And hey- All you young, winsome, despairing, romantically-inclined teenagers- take note! This guy was the real deal, it takes serious cajones to spit in the face of the Enlightenment and proclaim to the progress-minded 19th C. that, "Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of existence, then our existence must have no object whatever," (which is the first sentence in this nice little book) and then back that statement up with serious argumentation. And as a literary influence Schopenhauer is in a league entirely of his own. Thomas Mann is unthinkable without him (well, and Nietzcsche). Borges once opined that the only thinkers he thought accurately depicted the world were Schopenhauer and Berkeley. Finally, The introduction by Hollingdale is damn superb. It is possibly the best brief introduction to Schopenhauer (by way of Kant and 19th C. trends in German philosophy) that I have come across; it manages to be (simultaneously) anecdotal, psychological, historical, humorous and analytic- all in under 40 pages. No easy achievement, that. It should be noted that Hollingdale is a fine scholar/translator; his work with the late, great Walter Kaufmann on a variety of his Nietzsche translations comes to mind, as does his own fantastic critical biography, 'Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosophy,' which still may be the best work of its kind in terms of its approachability. My only beef with Hollingdale is minor: he doesn't mention the effects of the 'Nachmearz,' (a period in the mid 19th C. Germany, following revolts in 1848, wherein the public became disenchanted with 'academic' philosophy and turned to more literary-outsider intellectuals) as influential in producing the kind of cultural climate in which a thinker and writer such as Schopenhauer could find a mass readership. This is odd because in 'The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche,' Hollingdale discusses (at length) the far-reaching effects of said cultural phenomenon in producing the legends that permeate the widespread public perception of Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer... But I digress. Cheap copies of this are abound. Do yourself a massive favor, live a little- take a chance, as Nietzsche did, when he was a college student, nosing about in a bookstore...
Rating:
Summary: An exceptional translation of a brilliant mind
Review: This book is a classic. I love it and cart it around everywhere- so much so that my wife took to calling me 'Schopey,' soon after we married. Oh what a kidder... The text in question is basically an abbreviated form of "Parerga and Paralipomena," a collection of, you guessed it, essays and aphorisms that Arthur published towards the end of his life. In fact, he owed much of his early popularity to these little bits of brain, blood and bile- they paved the way for the interest in his earlier, more thorough and more intimidating work- 'The World as Will and Representation,' his central text. Intense, brooding, and enthrallingly lucid (a trait much lacking in philosophy in general and German philosophy in particular), these little pensees and barbs will provide you with much enjoyment, quotes, quips and boundless food for thought. If you are at all the kind of person who enjoys reading, or if you are buying books with such a person in mind (and if you weren't I don't see how you would have ended up here) I cannot say enough good things about this tiny volume! Whether or not you agree with Schopenhauer's central philosophic themes, his high-jacking/hybridization of Kantian metaphysics and Eastern Vedic/Buddhist Scripture, his pessimistic misanthropy, his irrational and intuitive bent, his (huge) influence on psychology and psychoanalysis, his dismissal of Judeo-Christian religion, or his overbearing arrogance- he is not a thinker to be dismissed lightly. I disagree with him on practically everything important (as did Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy notwithstanding), except his scathing misanthropy and his views on opera (page 163- he loathed it by the way, as a philistine piling up of styles, an 'unmusical invention for unmusical minds...'), but so what? His views, maxims and opinions are straightforwardly put with all the deceptive elegance of a minor key Chopin Nocturne. A refreshing break from the tireless jargon-juggling of contemporary, pomo, academic charlatans... And the man was brilliant. The kind of brilliance that engenders humility in readers and makes young, would-be philosophers reconsider their choice of profession. You cannot help but enter into dialogue with this man. And hey- All you young, winsome, despairing, romantically-inclined teenagers- take note! This guy was the real deal, it takes serious cajones to spit in the face of the Enlightenment and proclaim to the progress-minded 19th C. that, "Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of existence, then our existence must have no object whatever," (which is the first sentence in this nice little book) and then back that statement up with serious argumentation. And as a literary influence Schopenhauer is in a league entirely of his own. Thomas Mann is unthinkable without him (well, and Nietzcsche). Borges once opined that the only thinkers he thought accurately depicted the world were Schopenhauer and Berkeley. Finally, The introduction by Hollingdale is .. superb. It is possibly the best brief introduction to Schopenhauer (by way of Kant and 19th C. trends in German philosophy) that I have come across; it manages to be (simultaneously) anecdotal, psychological, historical, humorous and analytic- all in under 40 pages. No easy achievement, that. It should be noted that Hollingdale is a fine scholar/translator; his work with the late, great Walter Kaufmann on a variety of his Nietzsche translations comes to mind, as does his own fantastic critical biography, 'Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosophy,' which still may be the best work of its kind in terms of its approachability. My only beef with Hollingdale is minor: he doesn't mention the effects of the 'Nachmearz,' (a period in the mid 19th C. Germany, following revolts in 1848, wherein the public became disenchanted with 'academic' philosophy and turned to more literary-outsider intellectuals) as influential in producing the kind of cultural climate in which a thinker and writer such as Schopenhauer could find a mass readership. This is odd because in 'The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche,' Hollingdale discusses (at length) the far-reaching effects of said cultural phenomenon in producing the legends that permeate the widespread public perception of Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer... But I digress. Cheap copies of this are abound. Do yourself a massive favor, live a little- take a chance, as Nietzsche did, when he was a college student, nosing about in a bookstore...
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