Poodle As Representation Rottweiler As Will

Christopher Ryan takes a dogged look at Schopenhauer’s view of the world.

- Christopher Ryan

It is two hundred years since the publication of Schopenhauer’s chief work, The World as Will and Representation. It contains four main books – the first a Kantian-inspired account of the subject of knowledge, or epistemology; the second an anti-Kantian account of the subject of willing, or metaphysics; the third a Platonic-inspired account of the subject of contemplation, or aesthetics; and the fourth an Eastern religion-inspired account of the ascetic subject, or ethics in its broadest sense. These four books Schopenhauer regarded as different aspects of a unified single thought, examined from different perspectives.

The World as Will and Representation had zero immediate impact on contemporary philosophical debates, probably because of the uniquely devastating account that Schopenhauer’s single thought conveyed concerning the nature and value of human life. After a brief but unsuccessful attempt at establishing himself as an unpaid Lecturer (Privatdozent) at the University of Berlin, during which he deliberately scheduled his lectures at the same time as those of Hegel, Schopenhauer retreated into private life. His main companion in his later years was a white poodle named Atma, after the Sanskrit term for the Self that is identical with the inner essence of the universe, Brahman. When Atma died in 1849, Schopenhauer acquired a second poodle, brown this time, which he also named Atma.