Arthur Schopenhauer

Born in Danzig in 1788, Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher who studied in Göttingen and Berlin and published his most famous work, The World as Will and Representation, in 1818. He drew deeply on Plato and Kant, and he was also one of the first major European philosophers to take a serious interest in Indian thought, especially the Upanishads and Buddhism.

Schopenhauer became known for a stark view of human life: he argued that beneath our thoughts and plans lies a restless "will" that keeps us wanting, striving, and suffering. Even so, his writing was not simply bleak. He believed that art, compassion, and forms of self-denial could offer moments of release from endless craving.

For many years he had little public success, but later in life his books found a wider audience, especially after he settled in Frankfurt. His sharp, direct prose helped his ideas travel far beyond academic philosophy, and he went on to influence writers, artists, and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Thomas Mann.