Schopenhauer: On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason and Other Writings

by Arthur Schopenhauer, David E. Cartwright (Translator), Edward E. Erdmann (Translator)

This volume of new translations unites three shorter works by Arthur Schopenhauer that expand on themes from his book The World as Will and Representation. In On the Fourfold Root he takes the principle of sufficient reason, which states that nothing is without a reason why it is, and shows how it covers different forms of explanation or ground that previous philosophers have tended to confuse. Schopenhauer regarded this study, which he first wrote as his doctoral dissertation, as an essential preliminary to The World as Will. On Will in Nature examines contemporary scientific findings in search of corroboration of his thesis that processes in nature are all a species of striving towards ends; and On Vision and Colours defends an anti-Newtonian account of colour perception influenced by Goethe's famous colour theory. This is the first English edition to provide extensive editorial notes on the different published versions of these works.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

558 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2015

About the author

Arthur Schopenhauer was born in the city of Danzig (then part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; present day Gdańsk, Poland) and was a German philosopher best known for his work The World as Will and Representation. Schopenhauer attempted to make his career as an academic by correcting and expanding Immanuel Kant's philosophy concerning the way in which we experience the world.

He was the son of author Johanna Schopenhauer and the older brother of Adele Schopenhauer.

Reviews

[Volbet · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing that always surprise me about Arthur Schopenhauer's writing is how easy it is to read and how precise it is in its points. Schopenhauer might be dealing with some pretty lofty themes and ideas, but he always deliver those ideas in a manner that even a dumbfuck like me can understand.

These texts, those being On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, On Vision and Colors; Color Sphere: by Arthur Schopenhauer and Color Sphere by Philipp Otto Runge and On The Will In Nature, were all written before Schopenhauer's magnum opus, The World as Will and Representation, and as such contain a lot of the same ideas, but not as well thought out or developed as they later would be.
But that also means that this book is a great supplement to the World as Will and Representation, as this gives some notion how how the ideas developed and gives a much broader image of Schopenhauer as a philosopher.

Maybe it's the contrarian in me, but I honestly found the short essay On Vision and Colors to be the most interesting of the texts compiled here. This essay truly exemplifies one Schopenhauer's less developed and discussed concept, namely how both epistemology and ontology is ultimately rooted in the physical body in Schopenhauer's philosophical system. As a developments on Immanuel Kant's idealism, Schopenhauer considers empirical knowledge to be entirely dependent on the function of the body, and equally ontology (or "will") is expressed physically.
It's an idea that as much as the concept of will would go on to inspire plenty of philosophers to come, but it's rarely discussed and certainly not on the same level as will.

Although, one of the things holding these texts back, and it's no fault of Schopenhauer's, is the use of completely outdated science. It's fine that Schopenhauer considers Lemarckian evolution to be the ultimate expression of the will in nature, but that doesn't really do much for us, at Darwinian evolution is considered the evolutionary theory most accurate with the evidence we have, and Darwinian evolution would probably be considered directly opposed to he will as put forth by Schopenhauer.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful introduction to his philosophy around will and representation before reading his major work. Although I feel compelled by his ethos at particular points and his attempts to make Kant's philosophy more concise and readable, I feel like many elements are underexplained. Outside of the ideas regarding representation (what we see/interpret through representation is what truly is), the colour theory is largely superfluous: Schopenhauer comments multiple times that Einstein's ideas are wack and a conspiracy haha. He also clearly loathes Hegel, mentioning several times across all the works what a hack he is ahahaha

The concept around being/identity described as a 'will' is fascinating, however Schopenhauer seems to take this too far to the point that he would seem to indicate all existing things (people, animals, and even matter/forces) are self-creating, self-willing, and self-sustaining. He even describes non-sentient forces of nature (i.e. gravity) as having a 'will' of its own. He claims that "all [philosophers'] systems...[agree] that the what is most important, indeed, what alone is essential in all of existence, that on which everything depends, the actual meaning, the turning point, the point of it all (if I may say so) lies in the morality of human action. But ...[concerning the ways and means] they are all greatly at variance". He states that religions are expressions of "all sorts of images and myths" seeking to interpret this broad idea of 'morals'. Though he includes quotes from several religious texts and claims agreement with aspects of them, Schopenhauer seems to have no concept in his philosophy of an intelligent creator who imbues life and matter with its identity and purpose. I'm sure that Schopenhauer was a basis for Nietzsche, who took the idea of 'will' even further to the 'will to power' resulting in Übermensch

[King Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent introduction to Schopenhauer's philosophy. Here, he discusses what is at the root of his philosophy: the principle of sufficient reason, that is to say, the law of causality: the idea that nothing can occur without a reason. Schopenhauer argues that causality can be divided into 4 categories (hence the title). He then goes on to explain what these 4 categories are (I won't spoil the surprise, you'll just have to read the book). Unlike many philosophers (such as Kant and especially Hegel, whom Schopenhauer detested) Schopenhauer's prose, while technical and at times very abstract, is nonetheless relatively easy to understand. In other words, reading this book was not a chore, but rather an interesting and enjoyable experience. I believe this book is essential in order to grasp Schopenhauer's philosophy, and it will make it easier to comprehend The World as Will and Representation, Schopenhauer's magnus opus, as it is essentially a longer version of this book.