Schopenhauer, Arthur - Frederick Copleston, S. J. (essay date 1946)

Frederick Copleston, S. J. (essay date 1946)

SOURCE: "Schopenhauer, Other Thinkers, Christianity," in Arthur Schopenhauer: Philosopher of Pessimism, 1946. Reprint by Search Press, 1975, pp. 190-212.

On Schopenhauer's character as it affected his writing:

His pessimism seems to have been in Schopenhauer's life, and he was born with a gift for looking on the dark side of things. His teachings have little practical value, however interesting they may be to the student of the history of opinions. Yet he is one of those original and deep-searching men who can never be ignored, and who draw others to them by the very novelty and daring of their speculations. All he writes is interesting, and much of it true in a manner perversely one-sided and warped by the natural bias of his mind.

A review of The World as Will and Idea, in The Critic and Good Literature, February 2, 1884.