فلسفه‌ شوپنهاور

by Bryan Magee, رضا ولی‌یاری (Translator)

متن معرفی: از پشت جلد این ویرایش: این‌که چرا فلسفه‌ی آرتور شوپنهاور حائز اهمیت است می‌تواند دلایل ویژه و حتی غیرمعمولی داشته باشد. برای مثال: اخلاق وی بر شفقت و دل‌سوزی بنا شده است، برخلاف اخلاق کانت که مبتنی بر عقل است. و از میان فلاسفه‌ی مغرب‌زمین او یگانه فیلسوفی است که آیین بودایی را حقیقتاً جدی می‌گیرد و البته هم‌زمان نیز برای اصول علمی، اهمیت زیادی قائل است. اندیشه‌های وی جدا از حوزه‌ی فلسفه، در روان‌شناسی و هنرهای زیبا نیز اثرگذار و قابل توجه است و بر اندیشمندان و هنرمندان بزرگی تأثیرگذاشته است؛ کسانی مانند: نیچه، ویتگنشتاین، فروید، یونگ، واگنر، و تولستوی. این کتاب، نگاهی نو به فلسفه‌ی آرتور شوپنهاور است، و مباحث مفصلی درباره‌ی تأثیر او بر ویتگنشتاین و واگنر دارد.

متن معرفی: از یادداشت نویسنده‌ی کتاب: نظر به این‌که هر چه‌قدر سعی کنیم یک دستگاه فکری با اجزای درون متنی متعدد را با عباراتی واجد اعتبار شرح دهیم، باز نمی‌توانیم از آوردن گزاره‌هایی اجتناب کنیم که هنوز توجیه کافی برای مطرح‌شدن نیافته‌اند؛ من سعی کرده‌ام با تفکیک پیش‌فرض‌هایم از دستگاه شوپنهاور، این دشواری را به حداقل برسانم.
فصل‌های ابتدایی کتاب، حاوی عباراتی است که اثبات کامل آن‌ها با اصطلاحات خود شوپنهاور، در همان ابتدا ممکن نبوده و این کار در ادامه میسر می‌شود، و از این لحاظ تنها می‌توانم از خواننده تقاضای شکیبایی داشته باشم.
کتاب حاضر به انگلیسی نوشته شده است، و چون بیش‌تر مردم در ممالک انگلیسی‌زبان، قادر به خواندن متون آلمانی نیستند، ارجاعات من به تألیفات شوپنهاور نیز به ترجمه‌های انگلیسی این آثار است.
-برایان مگی-

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Metaphysics, Biography, Germany, Reference

616 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 1983

About the author

Bryan Edgar Magee was a noted British broadcasting personality, politician, poet, and author, best known as a popularizer of philosophy.

He attended Keble College, Oxford where he studied History as an undergraduate and then Philosophy, Politics and Economics in one year. He also spent a year studying philosophy at Yale University on a post-graduate fellowship.

Magee's most important influence on society remains his efforts to make philosophy accessible to the layman. Transcripts of his television series "Men of Ideas" are available in published form in the book Talking Philosophy. This book provides a readable and wide-ranging introduction to modern Anglo-American philosophy.

Reviews

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author will quote Schopenhauer to the effect that life is vile and it would have been better to have never been born, but since we are already here suicide is not the only philosophical question that haunts us since he will argue our quest for insight is enough to keep us occupied until the inevitable return to our nothingness, and the author will show that Nietzsche will tweak that by putting a slightly more optimistic spin on it by saying our instinctual nature will allow for an ecstatic existence sense of being as we keep becoming and should behave as if we have an eternal recurrence.

Schopenhauer is well worth understanding. This book does that almost as well as Schopenhauer did, maybe even better since the writer puts the philosophy under consideration into the context of when Schopenhauer was writing and through the lens of 1980s including a presumption of the validity of Freudian psychoanalysis. I’ve read Volume I and II of ‘Will and Representation’, but it’s not really necessary to have read them in order to understand this book.

There’s a whole lot to recommend this book. I’ll just drop some hints. The author will show how an encyclopedia describing Buddhism would align closely with Schopenhauer’s philosophy; evo devo (evolutionary development) was probably originated by him; Schopenhauer understood Freud 80 years before Freud understood himself; Popper really liked Schopenhauer and that’s what led me to this book since I did not understand why as I was reading Popper’s ‘Open Society’ that Popper thought so (both are anti-nationalist and prefer the liberty of the individual over the collective); Schopenhauer uses the word ‘will’ but he really means force or energy and realizes that energy equals matter; existence is beyond the observable phenomena and includes an unobservable noumena; and most of all we can’t will our own will since ‘reason is a slave to passion’ (Hume, but, of course, he appears a lot in this book), and I had the misconception that Wittgenstein was more logical positivist than of the school of Schopenhauer; I was wrong, and now I understand Wittgenstein better than before having read this book. This book will put short shrift to anyone who thought as I did.

There’s really no reason not to add this book which is freely available at: https://www.docdroid.net/ER9hZXg/comp...

[Jason Greensides · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own quite a few books on philosophy, but this is the one that completely blew my brain apart. Putting Schopenhauer's transcendental idealist philosophy into the context of the empiricism/idealism dichotomy, in particular relation to Kant, Bryan Magee takes you through the arguments in a far more lucid and engaging way than many of those other books dealing with the history of metaphysics.

Of course I was reading it because it's a brilliant insight into Schopenhauer's overall philosophy (his notion of the will to life, his aesthetics, his overall pessimism), but following and thinking about how we can perceive the world, is it ever knowable, and the ultimate mystery of the noumena world, really had me reeling from the seemingly obvious notion that we exist, things exist, and the crazy notion that anything exists to begin with.

This is a truly mind-bending book.

[Fadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive book on Schopenhauer's philosophy not written by Schopenhauer.

[Melika Khoshnezhad · Rating 5 out of 5]

پیش از هر چیز باید بگم برایان مگی یکی از بزرگترین معلم‌های منه، کسیه که به کمکش قدم به قدم وارد دنیای فلسفه شدم و بیش از هر معلم فلسفه‌ی دیگری ازش یاد گرفتم و ای کاش، ای کاش همچین کتابی درباره‌ی تمام فیلسوف‌ها نوشته بود.
موقع خوندن تمام این ۶۰۰ صفحه احساس می‌کردم یه معلم مهربون با صبوری کنارم نشسته و سعی می‌کنه هر قدر که لازمه همه چیز رو برام توضیح بده تا خوب خوب متوجه بشم و خب مگه آدم دیگه چی می‌خواد؟

توی این کتاب، برایان مگی از زندگی شوپنهاور شروع می‌کنه، پیشینه‌ی فکری‌ش رو می‌گه، نکات مهمی که در فلسفه‌ی کانت مهمه بدونیم رو یادآور می‌شه چون شوپنهاور کار خودش رو اصلاح و تکمیل فلسفه‌ی کانت می‌دونه و لازمه آدم با کانت آشنا باشه تا بتونه شوپنهاور رو خوب درک کنه. چیزی که دست‌کم من خیلی کم توی اطرافیانم که «در باب حکمت زندگی» رو خوندن و مثل نقل و نبات ازش نقل‌قول می‌آرن یا به عنوان فیلسوف بدبینی و تاریکی از شوپنهاور یاد می‌کنن کمابیش نادیده‌ش گرفتن. بعد کلیات فلسفه‌ی شوپنهاور رو توضیح می‌ده، در نهایت صادقانه نقدهایی که به‌ش وارده رو بررسی می‌کنه و در بخش دوم تأثیر شوپنهاور روی فیلسوف‌های دیگه، موسیقیدان‌ها، هنرمندان و نویسنده‌ها رو بررسی می‌کنه.

دو تا سوءتفاهم عمده‌ درباره‌ی شوپنهاور وجود داره، یکی این‌که ما می‌تونیم از ذات حقیقت یعنی همون ناپدیدار یا شیء فی نفسه (نومن) شناخت پیدا کنیم که خب این کاملاً غلطه چون شوپنهاور تأکید می‌کنه که ما هیچ راهی برای شناخت ناپدیدار نداریم و اصلاً شناخت فعلیه که در جهان پدیدارها ممکن می‌شه.
و دومی این‌که این اراده‌ای که شوپنهاور داره ازش حرف می‌زنه همون اراده‌ای که ما در خودمون درک می‌کنیم یعنی اراده‌ی معطوف به حیات یا قدرت. درحالی‌که شوپنهاور بارها تمایز این‌ها رو توضیح داده ولی خب انتخاب واژه‌ی «اراده» برای اشاره به امر ناپدیداری واحد باعث شده چنین سوءتفاهم‌هایی به‌وجود بیاد.

یکی از بزرگترین کمک‌هایی که شوپنهاور به جهان کرد به‌نظرم جایگاه والاییه که در بین هنرها به موسیقی داده و این‌که چطور روی یکی از بزرگترین موسیقیدان‌های جهان یعنی واگنر اثرگذاشته. برایان مگی یه فصل کامل و مفصل درباره‌ی تأثیر شوپنهاور روی اپراهای واگنر نوشته که خیلی به من کمک کرد.

برایان مگی توضیح می‌ده که چطوربدبینی شوپنهاور متناقضه با توجه به فلسفه‌ش چون مثلاً می‌گه موسیقی می‌تونه از ناپدیداری به ما خبر بده و موسیقی والاست و اینا، در عین حال معتقده ذات ناپدیداری شره، پس قاعدتاً باید موسیقی هم نمایانگر حقیقتی شرورانه باشه که خب متناقضه با ادعای خود شوپنهاور و ارادتی که به موسیقی داره. علاوه‌براین، بدبینی شوپنهاور با زندگی واقعی خودش هم ناسازگار بوده.

[Arjun Ravichandran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an epic length exposition/meditation by a quiet admirer of Arthur "Sour Grapes" Schopenhauer, the 19th century German philosopher renowned for his unrelenting pessimism.

More accurately, however, this can be considered a treatise on what the author quite fairly dubs the Kantian-Schopenhauerian paradigm, and he therefore begins his book with a treatment of Kant's Copernican revolution in philosophy, only then proceeding to adumbrate Schopenhauer's extension and completion of this work.

Schopenhauer takes over from Kant his fundamental insight ; that the ultimate reality is divided into noumena and phenomena i.e. things-in-themselves and the appearances of things. Schopenhauer embarks from this to make his original contribution to philosophy, i.e. enunciation of the fundamental Will which drives all things, living and non-living, and which is directionless, blind and unconscious ; a will that is, thus, forever unknowable to us.

His characterization of this will as blind, unconscious, and as thus, evil is the springboard for his famous (notorious?) pessimism, and also highlights his affinity with Eastern thought ; an affinity which Schopenhauer himself admitted to. From this formulation, follows many intriguing insights of rapier-sharp brilliance into human psychology, many of them anticipating scientific formulations of the same some 2 centuries hence.

The author is, like I mentioned, an admirer (though not an uncritical one) of the philosopher ; his book is divided into 2 parts. The first part is rather straightforwardly concerned with the exposition of Schopenhauer's philosophy, beginning with a mandatory synopsis of the Kantian revolution in philosophy, and only then proceeding to Schopenhauer's extension and completion of the same. The author is undoubtedly very well-versed with his material, and his exposition is both lucid and insightful, especially when he counters many of the misunderstandings that have attached to Schopenhauer's name and philosophy.

The second part is more loosely organized and deals with Schopenahauer's impact on philosophers after him, as well as a wide variety of artists, intellectuals, and scientists. His relationship with Buddhism and modern analytic philosophy is also briefly touched upon. In my opinion, this section of the book could have been more severely edited.

In conclusion, I found this a pleasant and easy-going reminder of Schopenhauer's fundamental 'rightness' (as one of his admirers, the great Wittgenstein himself, claims) regarding the nature of the world, of the fundamental unsayability of ultimate reality, of artistic creation and genius, and of the nature of true moral feeling.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite philosopher. I found a very good discussion of him here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGwSe0...

Exploring the confines of the cage, and eschewing the easy comforts of religion, and being unswervingly honest wherever it may lead. Regarded as a pessimist but I think a realist. I think that his independent dovetailing with buddhism and hinduism and recent scientific discoveries show that he was at least on the right track in this metaphysical detective story that has no end.

[Michael A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucid, erudite, immensely readable - what every secondary source on a thinker should be.

As for Schopenhauer himself, I should sit with my thoughts more, but I just have not really ever been able to fully buy into the phenomenon/noumenon distinction. But I also don't really have a convincing alternative. So, prima facie, I accept it...

[S Ashok · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explores in detail the philosophy of Schopenhauer and its influence on artists, scientists and philosophers who came after him. The book is brilliantly written, expertly analyses some of the key themes in his philosophy and its ramifications on aesthetics, morality and so on. Schopenhauer seminal work 'The World as Will and Representation' explores 'What is the world in itself? Does the actual world differ from the one which we have in our minds. His philosophy completes the work of Immanuel Kant, whom Schopenhauer considers to be the greatest philosophers in the western tradition. Kant's seminal finding was that the world that we see is highly processed by the senses and the mind. It is the mind that creates the space, causality and time. This world that we see through our senses and mind Kant called it the phenomena, this is the world we can always be aware. We cannot never be truly aware of the world in itself that Kant represented as Noumenon. This philosophy of Kant is called transcendental idealism. Contrary to common misunderstandings, Kant does not deny the existence of external world, all he postulates that such a world is only known to us through our senses and mind, and we can never know something outside of our senses and the mind. He concludes mind provides us with three fundamental features of external world, causality, space and time. These are ways in which we make sense of the world and they are mind dependent.
Schopenhauer's contribution to Kant's philosophy is the identification of the nature of the noumenon. Schopenhauer's first radical notion is that as knowledge in the phenomenal world presupposes the existence of subject and its grounded on differentiation and individuation, the noumenon should be undifferentiated existing outside the realm of space and time. He also makes a keen observation, although everything in the phenomenal world is observed through our senses, our bodies have this dual nature where we see them as objection of perception, also we can identify it directly. This direct awareness of one's own body in itself he calls it Will. He uses this to postulate in a similar the noumenon exists as the Will, its an underlying drive which ultimately is undifferentiated. It should not be confused as a causal relationship to the phenomenal world, it is just perceived by our sense and intellect as the world. Like for example our involuntary bodily movements are not thought about and brought to action, they happen unconsciously, we can only see the will in action. This actions are perceived as movements of hands or legs by our senses in the phenomenal world. In a similar vein the Will is seen as representation by the subject. In the world in itself that will is a blind force without any differentiation. In mythology over the world there is the image of the snake eating its own tail, in a similar manner the will objectified as human's are perceiving the will is a circle completion in will knowing itself.

The book also provides Schopenhauer's reinterpretation of Platonic ideas, his unique understanding of the importance of art and how they release us briefly from being in bondage of the will. His writings on genius and various fields of art are extraordinary.

[Dionysius the Areopagite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodreads is my digital public catalogue of books read and books to read with notes to self and others around the world with incoherent disregard to outwitting my way into winning Grand Prize of Thy Likes. In this bacchic orgy of invisible peoples, babeling senselessly of intellectual economics, esoteric folklore, archaic fairytales and Adult Coloring Books, there is a nebulous and naive uneasiness entwined unto dropping the apparent exterior world for the trusty written word (s); fall of man; fall of Lubrary(sic) Alexandrite; fall i.e. season; fall i.e. ashes; fall down i.e. up. You said the city was boring you and then when the naked albino was screaming about Willa Cather in Union Square you just kept on playing ping pong on your charlatan-phone 8. Then when the monk lit himself on fire at City Hall you just altered your profile picture to you wearing a monk's grabs along with two million other people. 'We R United W/ Munks (sic)' you said. And all the while you could have just turned off all of your electronics for the Sabbath and maranthon'd through Magee's Schopenhauer. Leonard Cohen has been dead for months. Yes, he has. No one's insulting you. We're just telling you that you're not going to see Leonard Cohen next time he's in New York because he's like dead. Just be purgatorial now and purgatorial later. That way you won't get slaughtered in the future. Expect the worst and you'll never be let down. I ran out of toilet paper but I can run to the Bodega in a minute. Then again some transvestites from Thailand left a bunch of secondhand Raymond Carver books out in the hall. It's a shame we don't have recordings of Schopenhauer playing the flute. Hegel was a repulsive and ignorant charlatan. Hegel was a clumsy and ignorant charlatan. I have no time for repulsive clumsy charlatans.

[Shahram Mansourzade · Rating 4 out of 5]

شوپنهاور فیلسوف بزرگی است که به نظر من به غلط،به "فيلسوف بدبین" شهرت پیدا کرده است. بشخصه وصف "فيلسوف واقع بین" رو برای این متفکر بزرگ شایسته تر و مناسب تر می دونم.این کتاب که توسط یکی از بزرگترین متخصصین فلسفه ی شوپنهاور و بر اساس اثر سترگ وی _جهان چون اراده و تصور_نوشته شده، شرح بسیار دقیق، روان و کاربردی برای علاقه‌مندان غیر حرفه‌ای این فيلسوف به حساب آمده و مطالعه ی آن تاثیر بسزا و روشنگری در فهم و درک دستگاه فکری شوپنهاور دارد.
شرح کوتاه زندگینامه ی شوپنهاور به مثابه پیش زمینه کار او (به تعبیر نویسنده) و اشاره‌ به تأثیراتی که فلسفه ی او بر متفکران بعدی و برخی نويسندگان بزرگ داشته و همچنین اشاره‌ به ارتباط میان تفکر شوپنهاور و فلسفه‌ ی شرق و به طور خاص آئین بودایی از نقاط قوت این کتاب و مکمل موضوع اصلی کتاب‌ هستند.
مصاحبه‌ ی مفصل و خواندنی برایان مگی در اثر دیگرش (فلاسفه بزرگ،آشنایی با فلسفه غرب) که در مورد شوپنهاور با فردریک کاپلستن(به عنوان یک مورخ برجسته‌ ی فلسفه و صاحب اثری به نام:آرتور شوپنهاور، فيلسوف بدبینی) انجام شده و بخصوص تبیین کوتاهی که در مورد سو تعبیرهای ناشی از انتخاب لفظ "اراده" در اثر اصلی شوپنهاور ارایه شده، می تواند مکمل مطالعه ی کتاب حاضر باشد.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you think you don't like Schopenhauer, this book may change your mind.

[امیرمحمد حیدری · Rating 2 out of 5]

گزافه و حشو قبیح زیادی داشت اما بالاجبار خواندم و نکات جزئی خوبی هم راجع به زندگی شخصی شوپنهاور آموختم. اما در توضیح فلسفه‌اش، چیز تازه‌ای برای گفتن نداشت. همان منابعی که قبل از این ریت کردم همراه با چند مقاله از نیچه، کافی هستند.

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very carefully researched book, which I read avidly and greatly enjoyed.

[A. B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, exploring Schopenhauer's philosophy in its details.

Schopenhauer is indeed a very inspiring philosopher: being a strong influence in the lives of as diverse thinkers as Freud, Nietzsche, Darwin, Wittgenstein, Wagner, Burckhardt, Borges, Einstein and Schrödinger etc. He seems to have anticipated in outline quite a lot of the innovations in wide fields of human endeavour in the 20th century.

The book contains two parts- one detailing his philosophy, and another his influence. Also cleared up a fundamental misunderstanding which abounds in a lot of introductory books- that we have 'direct knowledge of the noumenal Will'. The section on Nietzsche does seem a bit limited and imprecise, but the author's enthusiasm in the section on Wagner shines through. Must read up a bit on Wagner. Also introduced me to Burckhardt.

A word for Bryan Magee and his interviews on the history of philosophy on the BBC- his interviews are a great launchpad for further research on a topic. Unfortunately the Schopenhauer interview is a bit chaotic due to Copleston's refusal to even discuss him seriously.

Schopenhauer managed to bring to culmination the developments of the Kantian revolution with similar insights from Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, and also anticipate key 20th century developments. His Latin and Greek learning also shines through. The first philosopher I had read (whose collection of essays in the Penguin edition I had adored), and after having read (some) Kant, I think I will probably move on to his serious work.

[Dan DalMonte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good appreciation of Schopenhauer here. I really enjoyed learning about the key philosophical tents of Schopenhauer. He was a German philosopher who took the philosophy of Kant and brought it to a new level. I'm not sure I agree with his worldview, but it is certainly a gripping one. I want to think more about possible gaps and questions his system raises. This book is also very good at tracing the influences Schopenhauer had on artists like Richard Wagner and Thomas Mann.

[Jamey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book.

[Imaginarium · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a great book. The first half of the book methodically presents the philosophy of Schopenhauer with the focus on The World as Will and Representation. The second half consists of a many topics related to Schopenhauer's philosophy, such as the influence he had on Wittgenstein, his connections with Buddhism, and various misconceptions people (including philosophers) have about his ideas.

Magee argues convincingly for his interpretation of the term "will". This is important as you can find more than one sense of the term used in the literature. However, I would like him to respond directly to arguments made by others who defend other interpretation(s), for example Julian Young and Frederick C. Beiser.

The most confusing chapter was "Some Criticisms and Problems". Reading it I was astonished as it seemed Magee forgot his own explanation from the previous chapters. I had the impression that I could counter these criticisms using Magee's own words! I'm still not sure what to make of it.

The most important points are repeated a few times, so that they are very salient. Magee writes in a very clear way, deliberately trying to get close to Schopenhauer's beautiful prose. And he often succeeds. Sometimes I forgot if I'm reading Magee's words or a quote by Schopenhauer.

A very good book indeed.

[Mikey · Rating 5 out of 5]

LITERATURE in PUNK ROCK - Book #49-52
--------------
SONG: Schopenhauer in Berlin by Emperor X (2017)
https://youtu.be/BAMMqUa3EEs
BOOKS:
- Kant: Very Short Introduction (Oxford)
- Introducing Kant: A Graphic Guide
- Schopenhauer: Very Short Introduction (Oxford)
- The Philosophy of Schopenhauer (Magee)
--------------
“Schopenhauer in Berlin” is the third track of 2017 Emperor X album “Oversleepers International.”
Emperor X is the pseudonym for the music of Chad Mattheny, a legally blind musician, Plan-it-X recording artist, whom worked as high school physics teacher before leaving to pursue music.
Per Stereogum Review:
It’s pithy and breathless, placing the German philosopher in a variety of modern contexts, drawing a connection between his suppressed will and today’s world: “It’s a sign of the times that we’re in that we’re thinking along the same line he did,” Matheny sings in the opening verse.

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overall introduction to Schopenhauers interesting philosophy, including an extensive 50+ pages chapter on Schopenhauer and Wagner, overlapping a bit with the book "Wagner and Philosophy" by the same author. Besides a great summary of Schopenhauers metaphysics described in his main work "World as will and representation", the book also covers a great deal of other Schopenhauerian themes, like his thoughts on women and homosexuality. The book also places Schopenhauer in his times and in the tradition of philosophy, before and after Schopenhauer.

[Marco Antonio Sánchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

El sufrimiento domina la existencia porque es lo más real y positivo, puesto que toda dicha y más aún la felicidad consisten sólo en el alejamiento o la supresión de algún dolor; por eso el carácter de aquellas es negativo, dado que únicamente aparecen una vez que se extingue el dolor, y ello sucede en contadas ocasiones. Esta es la razón de que dicha y felicidad sean estados ocasionales, casi ficticios.

[Francois · Rating 4 out of 5]

 4 stars

Uniquely accurate explanation of a philosophy


I have read many introductions to philosophers but this is in my opinion the best I've read. If you want to not only understand the remarkable philosophy of Schopenhauer but also avoid the obvious pitfalls of any even modestly complex system of thought, then read this book.

But be warned, it's not easy reading and it's definitively not condensed.

[Kate Priest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does an excellent job at explaining Schopenhauer's philosophy, particularly with regards to its influence on Wittgenstein and in tracing the empiricist/rationalist tradition that converged on Kant, but desperately needs to be about 300 pages shorter. There's no retention of ideas between each chapter, making it feel less like a book than a compilation of articles.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted more detail than my survey of philosophy provided but less than I'd get from reading Schopenhauer himself, if that makes sense. So I got this book. I read closely only about 120 pages or so--roughly 6 chapters--and skimmed the rest. Magee is an able guide. Headed next to a few of Schopenhauer's essays.

[Javid Mammadov · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a philosophy noob like me, it will be a tough read.
So, the 3 stars represent my ignorance which made it difficult for me to read and understand the book.
I am sure the concepts in the book are interesting and insightful and deserve more stars. Maybe I can tackle it again in future, when I am more advanced.

[Philemon - · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only read Part I so far, which contains the best and clearest analysis of S's philosophy I've seen. Will need to read this part several more times for it to start to sink in. Part II contains special subject essays, most of which I plan to get to too. Very highly recommended.

[Chus DELABASTIDA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fue otro de mis intentos por leer a filósofos de corte nihilista y similares, tales como Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Cioran o el mismo Savater.

[Cleanthes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bryan Magee is amazing. I really enjoyed this book. So sad that he passed away recently. The book does a great job of showing the relevance and influence of the underrated philosopher. He does so using everyday language, and he writes with passion. I am so glad I read this.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful introduction to sheer grandiosity of Schopenhauer's life, thought and influence. I recorded more thoughts on youtalky if you want to listen or get my copy of the book.

[Bianca Van Zile · Rating 5 out of 5]

The World is my Will and my Representation…

[Manu Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the deepest book I've ever read, and it's also explained in a language that's both easy and quite beautiful at times