The World as Will and Representation

The World as Will and Representation (original German title, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung; sometimes translated as The World as Will and Idea) is the central work of Arthur Schopenhauer and one of the most important philosophical works of the 19th century.

Schopenhauer's starting point

This work begins with a statement that it assumes its reader's prior knowledge of Kant's philosophy as a prerequisite; Schopenhauer was the only major philosopher to maintain the transcendental idealism of Kant. The book's appendix provides a critique of the Kantian philosophy, which rejects most of Kantian ethics and significant parts of his epistemology and aesthetics.

Related Topics:
Kant's - Transcendental idealism - Ethics - Epistemology - Aesthetics

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For Schopenhauer, Kant had ignored inner experience, as intuited through the will, which was the most important form of experience. Schopenhauer's metaphysics go beyond the limits that Kant had set, but do not go so far as the rationalist system-builders that preceded Kant. Other important differences are Schopenhauer's rejection of eleven of Kant's twelve categories, arguing that only causality was important. Matter and causality were both seen as a union of time and space and thus being equal to each other. Bryan Magee rather sensationally called this a prototype for the theory of relativity.

Related Topics:
Will - Causality - Matter - Time - Space - Bryan Magee - Theory of relativity

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