Schopenhauer’s philosophy begins with Berkeley’s dictum that sensible reality is an object for consciousness: “esse est percipi”, to be is to perceive, from which it follows that “the world is my Idea”. His magnum opus, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung [The World as Will and Idea], is among humanity’s supreme achievements. A literary work of art, the treatise is an ontology, or theory of being, which encompasses an epistemology, a Platonic aesthetic and a Buddhist ethic. Schopenhauer’s book epitomizes the ancient tradition of Wisdom Philosophy, for it elaborates a metaphysic of spiritual freedom illuminating the soul’s way to salvation. The impact of Schopenhauer’s philosophy was immense, encompassing such divers

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First published 20 September 2004

Citation: Taylor, Rodney F.. "Arthur Schopenhauer". The Literary Encyclopedia. 20 September 2004.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3964, accessed 9 February 2010.]