Schopenhauer on writing, originality and genius (13/2/15)
German 19th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's best-known work is his magnum opus 'The world as will and representation'. He is well-known as a pessimist that found life almost unbearable. He loved music, and saw that as one of the few things that could make life bearable. He was a big influence on Nietzsche, although Nietzsche came to repudiate much of Schopenhauer's thinking in later life. Schopenhauer was also interested in the Eastern philosophies of Buddhism and Vedanta (Hindu), and shows the influence of these in some of his work.
The topic for this meeting is a set of 3-4 short essays about writing, in his collection 'The Art of Literature'.
It will be of particular interest to anybody who has ever tried writing outside of school, uni and work.
Schopenhauer thought he was a genius. Was he? He particularly disliked writers who pretended to be geniuses but weren't, and singled out the German philosophers Johann Fichte and (to a slightly lesser extent) Friedrich Schelling, for especially strong criticism. Who were Fichte and Schelling and could they possibly have been as empty, vain, pretentious and pointless as Schopenhauer suggests they are?
Schopenhauer
Here is the link to the discussion page and the podcast. It's all self-explanatory and user-friendly.
http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/2014/05/22/ep94-schopenhauer/
Here are the three essays, in separate html pages:
On Authorship and Style
http://insomnia.ac/essays/on_authorship_and_style/
On Thinking for Oneself
http://insomnia.ac/essays/on_thinking_for_oneself/
On Genius
http://insomnia.ac/essays/on_genius/
ebook version
This Adelaide Uni page allows download of the containing collection entitled 'The Art of Literature', as epub, kindle or other formats. It contains the three essays (four, because it splits the first into one on Authorship and one on Style), among others: