Table Of ContentSchopenhauer and the
Nature of Philosophy
Contemporary StudieS in idealiSm
Series Editor: Paolo Diego Bubbio, Western Sydney University
Editorial Board: Mark V. Alznauer (Northwestern University), Francesco Berto
(University of St. Andrews), Alfredo Ferrarin (University of Pisa), Elena Ficara
(University of Paderborn and City University of New York), George di Giovanni
(McGill University), Douglas Hedley (Cambridge University), Stephen Houlgate
(University of Warwick), Wayne Hudson (Charles Sturt University), Luca
Illetterati (University of Padua), David Kolb (Bates College), Simon Lumsden
(UNSW), Douglas A. Moggach (University of Ottawa), Lydia Moland (Colby
College), Maurizio Pagano (University of Eastern Piedmont), Paul Redding (The
University of Sydney), Julian Young (Wake Forest University)
The Contemporary Studies in Idealism series features cutting-edge scholarship
in the field of classical German Idealism and its legacy. “Idealism” is considered
both in a historical and in a theoretical sense. The series features projects that
center upon Kant and the post-Kantian Idealists (including, but not limited
to, early German romantic thinkers Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel) or upon
other related forms of nineteenth-century philosophy—including those often
considered to oppose Idealism, such as those of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. The
scholarship also seeks to critically assess the legacy of Idealism in the twentieth
and twentieth-first century. The series uses the resources of classical German
Idealism to engage in contemporary debates in all sub-fields of philosophy.
Schopenhauer and the Nature of Philosophy, by Jonathan Head
Nietzsche and Adorno on Philosophical Praxis, Language, and Reconciliation:
Towards an Ethics of Thinking, by Paolo A. Bolaños
Hypotyposis in Kant’s Metaphysics of Judgment: Symbolizing Completeness, by
Byron Ashley Clugston
Kant and Mysticism: Critique as the Experience of Baring All in Reason’s
Light, by Stephen R. Palmquist
Schopenhauer and the
Nature of Philosophy
Jonathan Head
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Head, Jonathan, author.
Title: Schopenhauer and the nature of philosophy / Jonathan Head.
Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, [2021] | Series: Contemporary
studies in idealism | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: "What is philosophy? What can philosophy offer us? What brings
us to think philosophically? Arthur Schopenhauer's writings offer
fascinating answers to these questions that have largely been overlooked
until now. In Schopenhauer and the Nature of Philosophy, Jonathan Head
explores the surprisingly rich and compelling metaphilosophy that
underlies Schopenhauer's work and argues that it offers a vital key to
unlocking many of the mysteries that surround his ideas. Schopenhauer
understands philosophy as grounded in a deep wonder about life and the
world that is universal to the human experience, as well as meeting a
fundamental need for both explanation and consolation. This account of
the nature of philosophy leads to further important discussions
concerning the relationship between philosophy and religion, the value
of mysticism, and the possibility of social progress. Through examining
Schopenhauer's account of how and why philosophy is done, this book
sheds crucial new light on a thinker whose ideas continue to both
provoke and inspire"-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021044205 (print) | LCCN 2021044206 (ebook) | ISBN
9781793640062 (cloth) | ISBN 9781793640079 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Schopenhauer, Arthur, 1788-1860. | Philosophy.
Classification: LCC B3148 .H395 2021 (print) | LCC B3148 (ebook) | DDC
193--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021044205
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021044206
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
To the memory of my grandparents — Ivy, Rita, Len and Lesley
vi
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Note on Abbreviations and Referencing xi
Introduction xiii
Chapter 1: The Need for Metaphysics 1
Chapter 2: Nature and Subjectivity 23
Chapter 3: Communicating Philosophy 51
Chapter 4: Seeking Better Consciousness 83
Chapter 5: Philosophy, Metaphor and Speculation 119
Conclusion 163
Bibliography 167
Index 171
About the Author 183
vii
Acknowledgements
The roots of this book go back over a decade, during which time I have been
able to discuss my ideas with numerous scholars who generously gave their
time to do so, including Daniel Came, Mark Walker, Keith Ansell-Pearson,
Alex Neill, Peter Poellner, and especially Dennis Vanden Auweele. My
thanks to all of them. I also greatly benefited from insightful comments from
a number of anonymous reviewers who read the manuscript at various stages
of development, and my sincere thanks goes to them too. I must also thank
my philosophy colleagues at Keele University for their support during this
time: Sophie Allen, Sorin Baiasu, Giuseppina D’oro, and James Tartaglia.
Many thanks also to Carol Diethe and Jenny Piddock for help with reading
some untranslated material from Gessamelte Briefe.
I was also fortunate enough to find a great publisher for this monograph
in Lexington Books, and my thanks go to the philosophy editors, Jana
Hodges-Kluck and Sydney Wedbush. I am also pleased that this is being
published as part of the growing ‘Contemporary Studies in Idealism’ series,
and my gratitude goes to the series editor, Paolo Diego Bubbio, and the rest
of the editorial board for taking a chance on this book. I must also thank
Cambridge University Press for permission to use extensive quotation from
The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Schopenhauer, edited by Christopher
Janaway1; Berg Publishers, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., for
permission to use quotes from Schopenhauer: Manuscript Remains (V1):
Early Manuscripts (1804–1818), by Arthur Schopenhauer, edited by Arthur
Hübscher and translated by E. F. J. Payne; and Il Pensare for material from
Jonathan Head, “Speculation and Esotericism in Schopenhauer’s Philosophy”
Il Pensare—Rivista di Filosofia, Anno VIII, n. 9, pp. 153–175, 2019, http://
www.ilpensare.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Head.pdf, reprinted with
permission.
ix
