Scan barcode
tenshi_tries's review against another edition
informative
4.25
He had some very good points made. But his philosophy On Women was utter bs.
jimflim's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.0
A lot of people find his outlook depressing; I find it very comforting. I do feel the "injunction to happiness" sometimes, that there is an expecation of personal fulfillment that I'm not living up to, and which threatens to remain unfulfilled. It's nice to read someone who starts off saying, "happiness is not possible, it's not even a thing, the most you can hope for is lack of pain. Life is what's happening while you're trying to be happy, might as well try to enjoy the spectacle." This not only seems accurate but sets the bar much lower than other philosophies. As of now I like him more than heidegger and maybe nietzsche; it seems like they took his best ideas and muddied them. His misogyny is a sad blot on what's an otherwise extremely insightful and generous mind.
vasta's review against another edition
3.0
If you are having a bad day, here’s a tip: stay away from Arthur Schopenhauer and anything he has written. To say that his work is a downer is putting it lightly: to read Schopenhauer is morbidly depressing and gloomy, and requires many hours of post-reading uplift in the form of stupid comedy or time spent with cooing children in order to recuperate.
The reason for his doom is clear once you understand his philosophy: according to Schopenhauer, all human action is futile and pointless, and thus our existence is to not find peace or enlightenment, but instead to overcome frustration pain. This is immediately obvious in the title of the first essay in his collection of [b:Essays and Aphorisms|19510|Essays and Aphorisms|Arthur Schopenhauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922267s/19510.jpg|20739], originally published as Parerga and Paralipomena in 1851. That title, quite fittingly, is “On the Suffering of the World,” and perhaps aptly, he follows that one with “On the Vanity of Existence.”
If you make it that far into [b:Essays and Aphorisms|19510|Essays and Aphorisms|Arthur Schopenhauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922267s/19510.jpg|20739] without needing to take a break from all the gloom, I applaud you. After those first two essays, I took a long, nightmare-plagued nap from which I awoke feeling distraught and purposeless. It took me another six seatings to finally make it through the entire collection, and while I was emotionally drained by the end of it, the entire exercise was worth it.
Reading [b:Essays and Aphorisms|19510|Essays and Aphorisms|Arthur Schopenhauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922267s/19510.jpg|20739] was worth it mostly because, between all the articulation of suffering and pain, Schopenhauer has some cogent ideas on the how to break ourselves from the self-delusion that we are all inherently happy and that there is something wrong with us when we are not. Allowing ourselves to feel pain and to understand that it is part of our existence is important because it gives us a self-awareness that helps us understand ourselves and the world around us a bit better.
There are some laughable parts of the collection—his essay “On Women” is a piece of misogyny that is worth skipping—and the book features a lot more pessimism than is perhaps healthy, but there are some enlightening moments when he discusses our relationship with time, morality, animals, and even self-criticism. [b:Essays and Aphorisms|19510|Essays and Aphorisms|Arthur Schopenhauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922267s/19510.jpg|20739] is worth visiting if only to see how it influenced later thought and art, or even just as a reminder that we all have our own demons, no matter how candy-coated we like to pretend life to be.
(Full review on I Tell Stories.)
The reason for his doom is clear once you understand his philosophy: according to Schopenhauer, all human action is futile and pointless, and thus our existence is to not find peace or enlightenment, but instead to overcome frustration pain. This is immediately obvious in the title of the first essay in his collection of [b:Essays and Aphorisms|19510|Essays and Aphorisms|Arthur Schopenhauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922267s/19510.jpg|20739], originally published as Parerga and Paralipomena in 1851. That title, quite fittingly, is “On the Suffering of the World,” and perhaps aptly, he follows that one with “On the Vanity of Existence.”
If you make it that far into [b:Essays and Aphorisms|19510|Essays and Aphorisms|Arthur Schopenhauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922267s/19510.jpg|20739] without needing to take a break from all the gloom, I applaud you. After those first two essays, I took a long, nightmare-plagued nap from which I awoke feeling distraught and purposeless. It took me another six seatings to finally make it through the entire collection, and while I was emotionally drained by the end of it, the entire exercise was worth it.
Reading [b:Essays and Aphorisms|19510|Essays and Aphorisms|Arthur Schopenhauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922267s/19510.jpg|20739] was worth it mostly because, between all the articulation of suffering and pain, Schopenhauer has some cogent ideas on the how to break ourselves from the self-delusion that we are all inherently happy and that there is something wrong with us when we are not. Allowing ourselves to feel pain and to understand that it is part of our existence is important because it gives us a self-awareness that helps us understand ourselves and the world around us a bit better.
There are some laughable parts of the collection—his essay “On Women” is a piece of misogyny that is worth skipping—and the book features a lot more pessimism than is perhaps healthy, but there are some enlightening moments when he discusses our relationship with time, morality, animals, and even self-criticism. [b:Essays and Aphorisms|19510|Essays and Aphorisms|Arthur Schopenhauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922267s/19510.jpg|20739] is worth visiting if only to see how it influenced later thought and art, or even just as a reminder that we all have our own demons, no matter how candy-coated we like to pretend life to be.
(Full review on I Tell Stories.)
booklandish's review
3.0
Influential and important, I found some interesting nuggets in there. I enjoyed the Aphorisms more than the Essays. Just be warned about the ludicrous Essay "On women": either pop some corn and read it to have a good laugh if you can handle to read it as a joke; or skip it all together. This was so misogynistic it crashed the star rating. I'm not surprised he died a virgin: causality?
bkam's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most insightful and (unexpectedly) amusing things I've read in recent years. It is a work of deep pessimism during a time of great optimism, and while parts of it are profoundly unpalatable today, he possesses powerful insight into human nature and the suffering that arises therefrom. He's a great writer, engaging and hilarious, and reads more like literature than philosophy.
hiow's review
4.0
This was a cool book, he has like the same opinions as me for many things and a lot of ideas I had in my head before he kind of like made sense of them and stuff
He sometimes seems quite annoying tho and I skipped his chapter on women because I didn’t want to ruin how I see him but it’s all cool
I recommend this book but you do need to think a lot when reading it it’s not like a light read
He sometimes seems quite annoying tho and I skipped his chapter on women because I didn’t want to ruin how I see him but it’s all cool
I recommend this book but you do need to think a lot when reading it it’s not like a light read
recoveryclap's review against another edition
4.0
i dunno. i reread this because i hate myself, apparently
like. schopenhauer is a twat. a self-righteous, I'm Smarter Than the Rest of the Population kind of twat. so it's rly annoying when i find myself agreeing w him. but then u go, wait, philosophy is supposed to make u question everything right? so i do question everything bc i'm like How can i look at this twat Objectively tm and then i get really stressed out and i want to scream
so this is a good book if you're into that
i would give this 3/5 actually but i gave it 4/5 bc of its readability (translator noted that schopenhauer reads a lot like orwell when u kno his context whatever etc and ye it's tru)
like. schopenhauer is a twat. a self-righteous, I'm Smarter Than the Rest of the Population kind of twat. so it's rly annoying when i find myself agreeing w him. but then u go, wait, philosophy is supposed to make u question everything right? so i do question everything bc i'm like How can i look at this twat Objectively tm and then i get really stressed out and i want to scream
so this is a good book if you're into that
i would give this 3/5 actually but i gave it 4/5 bc of its readability (translator noted that schopenhauer reads a lot like orwell when u kno his context whatever etc and ye it's tru)