Arthur Schopenhauer: His Life and Philosophy

Helen Zimmern

• Publisher: Bonhopai Books
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781779794246
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

Arthur Schopenhauer: His Life and Philosophy by Helen Zimmern is one of the earliest and most perceptive English studies of the great German pessimist — a penetrating portrait of the philosopher who transformed Western thought with his stark vision of will, suffering, and transcendence. First published in 1876, Zimmern's biography combines lucid scholarship with literary grace, offering readers both a life story and a philosophical introduction to one of the nineteenth century's most challenging minds.

Zimmern traces Schopenhauer's journey from his birth in Danzig and education in Göttingen to his years of isolation in Frankfurt, where he wrote the works that would later shake the foundations of modern philosophy. She paints a vivid picture of the man behind the doctrine — proud, brilliant, irascible, yet profoundly humane — revealing how his experiences of solitude, failure, and aesthetic joy shaped his vision of the world as driven by blind, insatiable will.

Balancing empathy with intellectual rigor, Zimmern guides readers through Schopenhauer's central ideas — the primacy of will, the illusion of desire, and the redeeming power of art and compassion — rendering them with rare accessibility. Her work stands as both an introduction to his philosophy and a pioneering study in biographical criticism.

 Arthur Schopenhauer: His Life and Philosophy   remains a classic of intellectual biography — a bridge between German idealism and English literary culture, written with insight, sympathy, and enduring clarity. For readers seeking to understand both the thinker and the man, Zimmern's work offers a portrait as compelling as the philosophy it unveils. 

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREFACE.
• CHAPTER I.—HIS EARLY YEARS.
• CHAPTER II.—HIS STUDENT YEARS.
• CHAPTER III.—HIS MENTAL DEVELOPMENT.
• CHAPTER IV.—HIS LIFE AT DRESDEN.
• CHAPTER V.—HIS ‘OPUS MAXIMUM.’
• CHAPTER VI.—HIS SOJOURN IN ITALY.
• CHAPTER VII.—HIS DISSATISFIED YEARS.
• CHAPTER VIII.—HIS RESIDENCE AT FRANKFORT.
• CHAPTER IX.—HIS DAWN OF FAME.
• CHAPTER X.—HIS ETHICS AND ÆSTHETICS.
• CHAPTER XI.—HIS FAME AND DEATH.