Arthur Schopenhauer

Born in Danzig in 1788 and later active in Germany, Arthur Schopenhauer became one of the most distinctive philosophers of the 19th century. He is most closely associated with The World as Will and Representation, the major work in which he argued that behind everyday experience lies a blind, striving force he called the will.

Schopenhauer wrote in sharp, direct prose and took an independent path that set him apart from many of the dominant academic thinkers of his time. He drew deeply on Immanuel Kant, developed a famously pessimistic view of human life, and gave unusual importance to art, especially music, as a temporary escape from suffering.

Although he did not enjoy broad success early on, his reputation grew later in life and expanded even more after his death in Frankfurt in 1860. His ideas influenced later philosophy, psychology, literature, and music, and he remains widely read for the dark clarity and emotional force of his writing.