John Vespasian explains that the reasons why philosophy books trace the inception of existentialism to Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) are rather weak. Nonetheless, they have attained the status of mainstream opinion and deserve a robust refutation. First of all, Schopenhauer himself never declared himself to be an existentialist, not anything close to that term. You won’t find such a concept in his works. Neither “On the fourfold root of the principle of sufficient reason”(1814), “The world as will and representation” (1818), or “Parerga and Paralipomena” (1851) contain any statements in favour of existentialist philosophy. Second, Schopenhauer came up with a clear philosophy to explain how the world works. His ground-braking theory of the will (“life force”) as a cosmological engine does explain events in the past and in the present. In contrast to existentialists, Schopenhauer rejected ideas of randomness and lack of meaning. He acknowledged the major role played by the will in human decisions, but supplied advice to help his readers make the best of their lives. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/schopenhauer-and-existentialism/

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