wife, family, intimate friendships. He had no social circle, no close
acquaintances, and no sense of community—in fact he was often
the subject of local ridicule. Until the very last few years of his life
he had no audience, readership, or income from his writings. Since
he had so few relationships, his meager correspondence consisted
primarily of business matters.
Despite his lack of friends, we nonetheless know more about
his personal life than that of most philosophers because he was
astonishingly personal in his philosophical writings. For example,
in the opening paragraphs of the introduction to his major
work,The World as Will and Representation, he strikes an
unusually personal note for a philosophic treatise. His pure and
clear prose makes it immediately evident that he desires to
communicate personally with the reader. First he instructs the
reader how to read his book, starting with a plea to read the book
twice—and to do so with much patience. Next he urges the reader
to first read his previous book,On the Fourfold Root of Sufficient
Reason, which serves as an introduction to this book and assures
the reader that he will feel much gratitude toward him for his
advice. He then states that the reader will profit even more if he is
familiar with the magnificent work of Kant and the divine Plato.
He notes that he has, however, discovered grave errors in Kant,
which he discusses in an appendix (which should also be read
first), and lastly notes that those readers familiar with the
Upanishads will be prepared best of all to comprehend his book.
And, finally, he remarks (quite correctly) that the reader must be
growing angry and impatient with his presumptuous, immodest,
and time–consuming requests. How odd that this most personal of
philosophic writers should have lived so impersonally.
In addition to personal references inserted into his work,
Schopenhauer reveals much about himself in an autobiographical
document with a title written in Greek, (About
Myself), a manuscript shrouded in mystery and controversy whose
strange story goes like this:
Late in his life there gathered around Arthur a very small
circle of enthusiasts, or «evangelists,” whom he tolerated but
neither respected nor liked. These acquaintances often heard him
speak of «About Myself,” an autobiographical journal in which he
had been jotting observations about himself for the previous thirty
years. Yet after his death something strange happened: «About
Myself» was nowhere to be found. After searching in vain,
Schopenhauer`s followers confronted Wilhelm Gwinner, the
executor of Schopenhauer`s will, about the missing document.
Gwinner informed them that «About Myself» no longer existed; as
Schopenhauer had instructed him he had burned it immediately
after his death.
Yet a short time later the same Wilhelm Gwinner wrote the
first biography of Arthur Schopenhauer, and in it Schopenhauer`s
evangelists insisted they recognized sections of the «About
Myself» document either in direct quotes or in paraphrase. Had
Gwinner copied the manuscript before burning it? Or not burned it
all and instead plundered it for use in his biography? Controversy
swirled for decades, and ultimately another Schopenhauer scholar
reconstituted the document from Gwinner`s book and from other
of Schopenhauer`s writings and published the forty–seven–page at the end of the four–volumeNachschlass
(Manuscript Remains). «About Me» is an odd reading experience
because each paragraph is followed by a description of its
Byzantine provenance, often longer than the text itself.
Why was it that Arthur Schopenhauer never had a job? The
story of Arthur`s kamikaze strategy for obtaining a position at the
university is another one of those quirky anecdotes included in
every biographical account of Schopenhauer`s life. In 1820, at the
age of thirty–two, he was offered his first teaching job, a
temporary, very low–salaried position (Privatdozent) to teach
philosophy at the University of Berlin. What did he do but
immediately and deliberately schedule his lecture course (titled
«The Essence of the World») at the exact same hour as the course
offered by Georg Wilhelm Hegel, the departmental chairman and
the most renowned philosopher of the day?
Two hundred eager students crammed into Hegel`s course,
whereas only five came to hear Schopenhauer describe himself as
an avenger who had come to liberate post–Kantian philosophy
from the empty paradoxes and the corrupting and obscure language
of contemporary philosophy. It was no secret that Schopenhauer`s
target was Hegel and Hegel`s predecessor, Fichte (remember, the
philosopher who had begun life as a gooseherd and walked across
all of Europe in order to meet Kant). Obviously, none of this
endeared the young Schopenhauer to Hegel or to the other faculty
members, and when no students at all materialized for
Schopenhauer`s course the following semester his brief and
reckless academic career was over: he never again gave a public
lecture.
In his thirty years at Frankfurt until his death in 1860,
Schopenhauer adhered to a regular daily schedule, almost as
precise as Kant`s daily routine. His day began with three hours of
writing followed by a hour, sometimes two, of playing the flute.
He swam daily in the cold Main River, rarely missing a day even
in the midst of winter. He always lunched at the same club, the
Englisher Hof, dressed in tails and white tie, a costume that was
high fashion in his youth but conspicuously out of style in mid–nineteenth century Frankfurt. It was to his luncheon club that any
curious person wanting to meet the odd and querulous philosopher
would go.
Anecdotes about Schopenhauer at the Englisher Hof abound:
his enormous appetite, often consuming food for two (when
someone remarked upon this, he replied that he also thought for
two), his paying for two lunches to ensure no one sat next to him,
his gruff but penetrating conversation, his frequent outbursts of
temper, his blacklist of individuals to whom he refused to speak,
his tendency to discuss inappropriate shocking topics—for
example, praising the new scientific discovery that allowed him to
avoid venereal infection by dipping his penis after intercourse into
a dilute solution of bleaching powder.
Though he enjoyed serious conversation, he rarely found
dining companions he deemed worthy of his time. For some time,
he regularly placed a gold piece on the table when he sat down and
removed it when he left. One of the military officers that usually
lunched at the same table once asked him about the purpose of this
exercise. Schopenhauer replied that he would donate the gold piece
for the poor the day that he heard officers have a serious
conversation that did not entirely revolve around their horses,
dogs, or women. During his meal he would address his poodle,
Atman, as «You, Sir,” and if Atman misbehaved he redressed him
by calling him «You Human!»
Many anecdotes of his sharp wit are told. Once a diner asked
him a question to which he simply responded, «I don`t know.» The
young man commented, «Well, well, I thought you, a great sage,
knew everything!» Schopenhauer replied, «No, knowledge is
limited, only stupidity is unlimited!» A query to Schopenhauer
from or about women or marriage elicited without fail an acerbic
response. He was once forced to endure the company of a very
talkative woman, who described in detail the misery of her
marriage. He listened patiently, but when she asked if he