Schopenhauer

- Preface
- Introduction

Chapter One: The Philosophy of a Nonconformist (1788-1860)
I. The Unsettled Years: 1788-1831
II. The Stable Years: 1833-1860

Part I: Schopenhauer's Theoretical Philosophy

Chapter Two: Historical Background
I. Mind-Dependent Qualities vs. Mind-Independent Qualities
II. Space and Time

Chapter Three: The Principle of Sufficient Reason
I. The Root of All Explanation
II The Four Basic Forms of Explanation

Chapter Four: Schopenhauer's Idealism and his Criticism of Kant
I. The Rejection of a Mind-Independent Reality
II. Kant's Theory of Perception
III. Kant's Use of the Term "Object"
IV. The Logic of Manifestation

Chapter Five: The World in Itself as a Meaningless and Almighty Will
I. Universal Subjectivity
II. The World as Will
III. The Two-Tiered Objectification of the Will: Platonic Ideas and Spatio-Temporal Individuals

Chapter Six: Critical Interpretations of the World as Will
I. Scientific Knowledge, Philosophical Knowledge and Mystical Knowledge
II. Regular Time Versus the Eternal Present

Part II: Schopenhauer's Practical Philosophy

Chapter Seven: Endless Suffering in the Daily World
I. A Universal Will Without Purpose
II. The Purposelessness of Schopenhauer's Thing-in-Itself
III. Life as Embittering: Schopenhauer and Buddhism

Chapter Eight: Tranquillity I: Sublimity, Genius and Aesthetic Experience
I. Platonic Ideas and Aesthetic Experience
II. Artistic Genius and the Communication Theory of Art
III. The Hierarchy of the Visual and Verbal Arts
IV. Tragedy and Sublimity
V. Music and Metaphysical Experience

Chapter Nine: Tranquillity II: Christlike Virtue and Moral Awareness
I. Empathy as the Foundation of Moral Awareness
II. Intelligible, Empirical and Acquired Character
III. Humanity's Sublime Anguish

Chapter Ten: Tranquillity III: Asceticism, Mysticism and Buddhism
I. The Possibility of the Denial-of-the-Will
II. Christian Quietism, Yogic Ecstasy, and Buddhist

Robert Wicks is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Auckland. He is the author of Modern French Philosophy: From Existentialism to Postmodernism (2003), Nietzsche (2002), and Hegel's Theory of Aesthetic Judgment (1994). He is also the author of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Schopenhauer.

"Perhaps because its potential readership is scarcely larger than the potential authorship, the genre of introductory books on Schopenhauer is of uniformly high quality. The great pessimist would surely be confounded and joyful at the situation, but books whose titles contain little if anything other than the name 'Schopenhauer' are generally excellent. I am pleased to report that Robert Wicks s recent effort is no exception." ( Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews )