Opposition to Schopenhauer’s theory of knowledge

03/04/2025 6 min Episodio 113
Opposition to Schopenhauer’s theory of knowledge

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Episode Synopsis

John Vespasian explains that, when Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) began to question mainstream philosophical ideas, he expected heavy opposition and criticism. In this respect, he was not disappointed. Almost all twentieth-century thinkers have opposed Schopenhauer and his theory of the will. Hefty opposition was no surprise to Schopenhauer precisely because he had presented his ideas as improvements on those of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), and other philosophers. Schopenhauer held Kant in high esteem, but despised Hegel profoundly. He considered Hegel a charlatan. When Hegel died due to an epidemic in Berlin, Schopenhauer was jubilant. He only lamented that Hegel had not died earlier, so that the world would have been spared his stupid ideas. At the start of the epidemic, both Hegel and Schopenhauer had been living in Berlin. While Hegel had remained in Berlin and succumbed to the epidemic, Schopenhauer had relocated to Frankfurt at the first sign of danger. As it was typical of him and his philosophy, Schopenhauer had steered away from excessive risks. When he had first read the news about the epidemic, he did not know its true severity, but immediately decided to relocate. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/opposition-to-schopenhauers-theory-of-knowledge/