Nietzsche or Schopenhauer? Or both? Please only answer if you think there is something worthwhile in the...?

Question

philosophy of one or the other (or both). This question is possibly reducible to: "Schopenhauerian pessimism or Nietzschean optimism? Which is closer to the truth of things?" Or can their philosophies be reconciled in some way?

Barney Ard -- I agree to a large extent but you really haven't said why!

wisdomsteeth -- I like your answer. I agree that Walter Kaufmann's translations do show a beautiful mind.

JMH-- You have taught me a lot about how people get to become top contributors (e.g. Easy B Me II). (I have noticed that his Q&A's & his contacts are private; I can imagine why!) Thank you for pointing out his plagiarism.

Easy B ME II -- If you'd just told me where you'd got your information from, I'd have been happy with you cut & paste job!

Whiner -- Perhaps in itself Schopenhauer's philosophy is not pessimistic but in contrast to Nietzsche's, it is. (This is the very reason Nietzsche rejected his philosophy.)

Grayure -- As always, I appreciate your contribution. If I could have given two best answers I would have given one to you.

Correction: Message to Easy B ME II should read "...I'd have been happy with YOUR cut & paste job."

Answer 1

Easy's response above is quite impressive! Uncommonly articulate, unexpectedly probative and insightful, well informed

and completely plagiarized!

The link to the source of his response is provided below.

Easy, it is intellectually dishonest, unethical and illegal to pass off as your own writing responses you have purloined from other sources, including the Internet. Just because it's on the Internet does not mean it's free to use without attribution; and just because others may have plagiarized it in the past does not make repeated plagiarism permissible.

So, unless you can prove that you wrote the text you've pasted here, please cite your sources and put the credit where it belongs!

Answer 2

There is only one truth. All philosopher havefound knowldge partially, but none has communicated to the world, the understanding that makes all life clear and simple to understand. The trolls bark maddeningly drowning out the great and the wise. Brilliant minds are ridiculed, accused of insanity or tormented to distraction or cast into disrepute.
I lovethe mind of Nietzsche although admittedly I am not too familar with Schopenhauer. Alas he started as a brilliant commentator on life, and ended embittered, angered and disillusioned. I find he has the most beautiful mind. I have Walter Kauffman's translation of his works. Beautiful.

Answer 3

Nietzsche saw his Philosophy as based on Schopenhauer's in his early years.

I would generally say Schopenhauer, but without the general hatred of life he had. The panpsychism is good.

Answer 4

Schopenhauer was not really that much of a pessimist. Read his "World as will and representation" and find out for yourself.

Answer 5

Nietzsche frequently refers to Schopenhauer as his ‘true educator’, a topic explored fully in his essay Schopenhauer as Educator, published in 1874 as one of the Untimely Meditations. Although a reader can be forgiven for believing that it is the earlier philosopher in person that Nietzsche is referring to, the image is more a metaphor for Nietzsche’s own self-educative process, and his description of Schopenhauer an attribution based on his perception of his own life. He was to write many years later, "....in Schopenhauer as Educator my innermost history, my becoming is inscribed. Above all, my promise! ... At bottom it is admittedly not 'Schopenhauer as Educator' that speaks here, but his opposite, 'Nietzsche as Educator' (EH, "The Untimely Ones":3)

In the light of Nietzsche’s own admission, an analysis of his Untimely Meditation is more likely to reveal his own philosophy of education rather than that of his mentor. Nietzsche’s depiction of himself as Schopenhauer’s opposite is his retrospective attempt to reject Schopenhauer and the pessimistic response to life. However at the time of writing, Nietzsche obviously saw himself in Schopenhauer (or Schopenhauer in himself), and Schopenhauer’s ideas permeated much of Nietzsche’s later writing as well.

Three qualities of Schopenhauer stood out for Nietzsche; his originality and honesty in a period of German philosophy that he saw characterised by conformity; his cheerfulness emanating from courage and strength; and his uncompromising steadfastness. Nietzsche also followed Schopenhauer in his contempt for scholars in their limited search for ‘pure knowledge’. He saw Schopenhauer as liberating philosophy from the control of state and society.

Nietzsche’s early infatuation with Schopenhauer is evidenced in his psychological positioning of himself in relation to Schopenhauer as:

a son being instructed by his father. It is an honest, calm, good-natured discourse before an auditor who listens to it with love. (UM3:134)

Janaway (1994) details the Schopenhauerean themes that impacted on subsequent musicians and philosophers, among them his aesthetic theory, his philosophy of music, his recognition of the unconscious, his treatment of the overpowering sexual drive, his pessimism, and his questioning of the value of human existence. Nietzsche believed life was more important than knowledge, and that art and music could provide the pathway to a joyful and creative existence. He followed Schopenhauer in his view that non-rational forces were at the heart of reality.

Answer 6

Nietzsche!!! the great man can change your life.