Arthur Schopenhauer

High school (ages 12+)
Philosophy & Big Questions

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Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/arthur-schopenhauer

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Arthur Schopenhauer born?February 22, 1788
2. Where was Arthur Schopenhauer born?Danzig, Prussia (now Gdańsk, Poland)
3. What is the philosophical stance?Atheistic metaphysical and ethical system, often characterized as philosophical pessimism
4. What is the major influences?Immanuel Kant, Plato, and Indian philosophies (Upanishads, Buddhism)
5. What was Arthur Schopenhauer's main idea about why we want things?He said there is a hidden force called the "Will" that makes everything want more. Because of this, we always feel hungry for something new.
6. Why did Schopenhauer think life can be sad?The Will never stops wanting, so we keep feeling want, then a little happy, then want again. This cycle causes suffering and makes life feel sad.

Metaphysics: The branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.
Noumenal World: In Kantian and Schopenhauerian philosophy, the world as it is in itself, independent of our perception.
Phenomenal World: In Kantian and Schopenhauerian philosophy, the world as it appears to our senses and is understood by our minds.
The Will: Schopenhauer's concept of a blind, irrational, striving force that is the ultimate reality behind all phenomena.