Upanishads

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The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer read the Latin translation and praised the Upanishads in his main work, The World as Will and Representation (1819), as well as in his Parerga and Paralipomena (1851). He found his own philosophy was in accord with the Upanishads, which taught that the individual is a manifestation of the one basis of reality. For Schopenhauer, that fundamentally real underlying unity is what we know in ourselves as "will". Schopenhauer used to keep a copy of the Latin Oupnekhet by his side and commented, "It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death."

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The Upanishadsare philosophical texts of the Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main (mukhya) or old Upanishads.

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+The German philosopher [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] read the Latin translation and praised the Upanishads in his main work, ''[[The World as Will and Representation]]'' (1819), as well as in his ''[[Parerga and Paralipomena]]'' (1851). He found his own philosophy was in accord with the Upanishads, which taught that the individual is a manifestation of the one basis of reality. For Schopenhauer, that fundamentally real underlying unity is what we know in ourselves as "will". Schopenhauer used to keep a copy of the Latin ''Oupnekhet'' by his side and commented, "It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death."
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-Published in [[1819]], '''''The World as Will and Representation''''', sometimes translated as '''''The World as Will and Idea''''' (original [[German language|German]] title: '''''Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung'''''), is the central work of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]].
-==Will==
+The '''Upanishads'''are [[philosophical text]]s of the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main (''[[mukhya]]'') or old Upanishads.
-Schopenhauer used the word "[[will]]" as a human's most familiar designation for the concept that can also be signified by other words such as  "[[desire]]", "striving", "wanting", "effort" and "[[urge|urging]]".
+==See also==
+*[[100 Most Influential Books Ever Written]]
+* [[Bhagavad Gita]]
+* [[Hinduism]]
-==Representation==
-He used the word ''representation'' (''Vorstellung'') to signify the mental idea or image of any object that is experienced as being external to the mind. It is sometimes translated as ''idea'' or ''presentation''. This concept includes the representation of the observing subject's own body. Schopenhauer called the subject's own body the ''immediate object'' because it is in the closest proximity to the mind, which is located in the brain.
-==Epistemology (Vol. 1, Book 1)==
-As mentioned above, Schopenhauer's notion of the will comes from the Kantian things-in-itself, which Kant believed to be the fundamental reality behind the representation that provided the matter of perception, but lacked form. Kant believed that space, time, causation, and many other similar phenomena belonged properly to the form imposed on the world by the human mind in order to create the representation, and these factors were absent from the thing-in-itself. Schopenhauer pointed out that anything outside of time and space could not be differentiated, so the thing-in-itself must be one and all things that exist, including human beings, must be part of this fundamental unity.  Our inner-experience must be a manifestation of the noumenal realm and the will is the inner kernel of every being.  All knowledge gained of objects is seen as self-referential, as we recognize the same will in other things as is inside us.
-==Ontology (Vol. 1, Book 2)==
-In Book Two, [[electricity]] and [[gravity]] are described as fundamental forces of the will.  [[Knowledge]] is something that was invented to serve the will and is present in both human and non-human animals. It is subordinate to the demands of the will for all animals and most humans. The fundamental nature of the universe and everything in it is seen as this will. Schopenhauer presents a pessimistic picture on which unfulfilled desires are painful, and pleasure is merely the sensation experienced at the instant one such pain is removed. However, most desires are never fulfilled, and those that are fulfilled are instantly replaced by more unfulfilled ones.
-==Aesthetics (Vol. 1, Book 3)==
-Like many other aesthetic theories, Schopenhauer's centers on the concept of [[genius]]. Genius, according to Schopenhauer, is possessed by all people in varying degrees and consists of the capacity for aesthetic experience. An aesthetic experience occurs when an individual perceives an object and understands by it not the individual object itself, but the [[Platonic form]] of the object. The individual is then able to lose himself in the object of contemplation and, for a brief moment, escape the cycle of unfulfilled desire by becoming "the pure subject of will-less knowing." Those who have a high degree of genius can be taught to communicate these aesthetic experiences to others, and objects that communicate these experiences are works of art. Based on this theory, Schopenhauer viewed Dutch [[still-life]] as the best type of painting, because it was able to help viewers see beauty in ordinary, everyday objects. However, he sharply criticized depictions of nude women and prepared food, as these stimulate desire and thus hinder the viewer from the aesthetic experience and becoming "the pure subject of will-less knowing."
-Music also occupies a privileged place in Schopenhauer's aesthetics, as he believed it to have a special relationship to the will. Where other forms of art are imitations of things perceived in the world, music is a direct copy of the will.
-==Ethics (Vol. 1, Book 4)==
-Schopenhauer claims in this book to set forth a purely descriptive account of human ethical behavior, in which he identifies two types of behavior: the affirmation and denial of the will.
-According to Schopenhauer, the Will (the great Will that is the [[thing-in-itself]], not the individual wills of humans and animals, which are phenomena of the Will) conflicts with itself through the [[Psychological egoism|egoism]] that every human and animal is endowed with.  Compassion arises from a transcendence of this egoism (the penetration of the illusory perception of individuality, so that one can [[empathise]] with the suffering of another) and can serve as a clue to the possibility of going beyond desire and the will.  Schopenhauer categorically denies the existence of the "freedom of the will" in the conventional sense, and only adumbrates how the will can be "released" or negated, but is not subject to change, and serves as the root of the chain of [[causality|causal]] [[determinism]].  His praise for [[asceticism]] led him to think highly of [[Buddhism]] and [[Vedanta]] [[Hinduism]], as well as some monastic sects of [[Catholicism]].  He expressed contempt for [[Protestantism]], [[Judaism]], and [[Islam]], which he saw as optimistic, devoid of [[metaphysics]] and cruel to non-human animals. According to Schopenhauer, the deep truth of the matter is that in cases of the over-affirmation of the will &ndash; that is, cases where one individual exerts his will not only for its own fulfillment but for the improper domination of others &ndash; he is unaware that he is really identical with the person he is harming, so that the Will in fact constantly harms itself, and justice is done in the moment in which the crime is committed, since the same metaphysical individual is both the perpetrator and the victim.
-Schopenhauer discusses suicide at length, noting that it does not actually destroy the Will or any part of it in any substantial way, since death is merely the end of one particular phenomenon of the Will, which is subsequently rearranged. By [[asceticism]], the ultimate denial of the will, one can slowly weaken the individual will in a way that is far more significant than violent suicide, which is, in fact, in some sense an affirmation of the will.
-The ultimate conclusion is that one can have a tolerable life not by complete elimination of desire, since this would lead to boredom, but by becoming a detached observer of one's own will and being constantly aware that most of one's desires will remain unfulfilled.
-==Criticism of the Kantian Philosophy (Vol. 1, Appendix)==
-At the end of Book 4, Schopenhauer appended a thorough discussion of the merits and faults of Kant's philosophy. [[Schopenhauer's criticism of the Kantian philosophy]] asserted that Kant's greatest error was the failure to distinguish between perceptual, intuitive knowledge and conceptual, discursive knowledge. One of Kant's greatest contributions, according to Schopenhauer, was the distinction of the [[phenomenon]] from the [[thing-in-itself]].
-==Volume 2==
-The second volume consisted of several essays expanding topics covered in the first.  Most important are his reflections on [[death]] and his [[theory on sexuality]], which saw it as a manifestation of the whole will making sure that it will live on and depriving humans of their [[reason]] and sanity in their longing for their loved ones.  While this has been much improved on since, his honesty on the subject is unusual for the time and the central role of sexuality in human life is now widely accepted.  Less successful is his theory of [[genetics]]: he argued that humans inherit their will, and thus their character, from their fathers, but their intellect from their mothers and he provides examples from biographies of great figures to illustrate this theory. The second volume also contains what many readers view as attacks on contemporary philosophers such as [[Fichte]], [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling|Schelling]], and [[Hegel]].
-The contents of Volume II are as follows.
-'''Supplements to the First Book'''
-First Half
-The Doctrine of the Representation of Perception Through § 1 &ndash; 7 of Volume I
-   I. On the Fundamental View of Idealism
-  II. On the Doctrine of Knowledge of Perception or Knowledge of the Understanding
- III. On the Senses
-  IV. On Knowledge a Priori
-Second Half
-The Doctrine of the Abstract Representation or of Thinking
-    V. On the Intellect Devoid of Reason
-   VI. On the Doctrine of Abstract Knowledge, or Knowledge of Reason
-  VII. On the Relation of Knowledge of Perception to Abstract Knowledge
- VIII. On the Theory of the Ludicrous
-   IX. On Logic in General
-    X. On the Science of Syllogisms
-   XI. On Rhetoric
-  XII. On the Doctrine of Science
- XIII. On the Methods of Mathematics
-  XIV. On the Association of Ideas
-   XV. On the Essential Imperfections of the Intellect
-  XVI. On the Practical Use of Our Reason and on Stoicism
- XVII. On Man's Need for Metaphysics
-'''Supplements to the Second Book'''
-  XVIII. On the Possibility of Knowing the Thing-in-Itself
-    XIX. On the Primacy of the Will in Self-Consciousness
-     XX. Objectification of the Will in the Animal Organism
-    XXI. Retrospect and More General Consideration
-   XXII. Objective View of the Intellect
-  XXIII. On the objectification of the Will in Nature without Knowledge
-   XXIV. On Matter
-    XXV. Transcendent Considerations on the Will as Thing-in-Itself
-   XXVI. On Teleology
-  XXVII. On Instinct and Mechanical Tendency
- XXVIII. Characterization of the Will-to-Live
-'''Supplements to the Third Book'''
-    XXIX. On Knowledge of the Ideas
-     XXX. On the Pure Subject of Knowing
-    XXXI. On Genius
-   XXXII. On Madness
-  XXXIII. Isolated Remarks on Natural Beauty
-   XXXIV. On the Inner Nature of Art
-    XXXV. On the Aesthetics of Architecture
-   XXXVI. Isolated Remarks on the Aesthetics of the Plastic and Pictorial Arts
-  XXXVII. On the Aesthetics of Poetry
- XXXVIII. On History
-   XXXIX. On the Metaphysics of Music
-'''Supplements to the Fourth Book'''
-     XL. Preface
-    XLI. On Death and Its Relation to the Indestructibility of Our Inner nature
-   XLII. Life of the Species
-  XLIII. The Hereditary Nature of Qualities
-   XLIV. [[The Metaphysics of Sexual Love]]
-         Appendix to the Preceding Chapter
-    XLV. On the Affirmation of the Will-to-Live
-   XLVI. On the Vanity and Suffering of Life
-  XLVII. On Ethics
- XLVIII. On the Doctrine of the Denial of the Will-to-Live
-   XLIX. The Road to Salvation
-      L. Epiphilosophy
-==Influence==
-The value of this work is much disputed.  Some rank [[Schopenhauer]] as one of the most original and inspiring of all philosophers, while others see him as inconsistent and too pessimistic.  While his name is less well known outside [[Germany]], he has had a huge effect on [[psychoanalysis]] and the works of [[Freud]]; some researchers have even questioned whether Freud was telling the truth when he said that he had not read Schopenhauer until his old age.  The notion of the subconscious is present in Schopenhauer's will and his theory of [[Insanity|madness]] was consistent with this.  Also, his theory on [[Sadomasochism|masochism]] is still now widely proposed by doctors.  [[Nietzsche]], [[Karl Popper|Popper]], [[Wittgenstein]], [[Tolstoy]], [[Carl Jung|Jung]], [[Borges]], [[D.H. Lawrence]], [[Albert Camus|Camus]], [[Samuel Beckett|Beckett]], [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]] and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] were all strongly influenced by his work. For Nietzsche, the reading of ''The World as Will and Representation'' aroused his interest in philosophy. Although he despised especially Schopenhauer's ideas on [[compassion]], Nietzsche would admit that Schopenhauer was one of the few thinkers that he respected, lauding him in his essay ''Schopenhauer als Erzieher'' ("Schopenhauer as Educator", 1874), one of his ''[[Untimely Meditations]]''.
-Schopenhauer's discussion of language was a major influence on [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]].
-Many interpreters see Schopenhauer's account of the Will as closely resembling classic examples of [[Monism]], especially as propounded by [[Upanishads]] and [[Vedanta]] philosophy. Schopenhauer also developed some ideas that can be found in the theory of [[evolution]], before [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]] began to publish his work, for example the idea that all life strives to preserve itself and to engender new life, and that our mental faculties are merely tools to that end. In contrast to what Darwin discovered, however, he saw species as fixed.  His interest in [[Eastern philosophy]] brought new ideas to the West.  His respect for the rights of animals &ndash; including a vehement opposition to [[vivisection]] - has led many modern [[animal rights]] activists to look up to him.
-==See also==
-* [[The Metaphysics of Sexual Love]]
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Upanishads

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