Editing Arthur Schopenhauer (section)

== Early work ==
Schopenhauer left Berlin in a rush in 1813, fearing that the city could be attacked and that he could be pressed into military service as Prussia had just joined the [[War of the Sixth Coalition|war against France]].{{r|Cartwright|p=179}} He returned to Weimar but left after less than a month, disgusted by the fact that his mother was now living with her supposed lover, {{ill|Georg Friedrich Konrad Ludwig Müller von Gerstenbergk|de|Georg Friedrich von Gerstenbergk}}, a civil servant twelve years younger than she; he considered the relationship an act of infidelity to his father's memory.{{r|Cartwright|p=188}} He settled for a while in [[Rudolstadt]], hoping that no army would pass through the small town. He spent his time in solitude, hiking in the mountains and the [[Thuringian Forest]] and writing his dissertation, ''[[On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason]]''.

Schopenhauer completed his dissertation at about the same time as the French army was defeated at the [[Battle of Leipzig]]. He became irritated by the arrival of soldiers in the town and accepted his mother's invitation to visit her in Weimar. She tried to convince him that her relationship with Gerstenbergk was platonic and that she had no intention of remarrying.{{r|Cartwright|p=230}} But Schopenhauer remained suspicious and often came in conflict with Gerstenbergk because he considered him untalented, pretentious, and [[German nationalism|nationalistic]].{{r|Cartwright|p=231}} His mother had just published her second book, ''Reminiscences of a Journey in the Years 1803, 1804, and 1805'', a description of their family tour of Europe, which quickly became a hit. She found his dissertation incomprehensible and said it was unlikely that anyone would ever buy a copy. In a fit of temper Arthur told her that people would read his work long after the "rubbish" she wrote was totally forgotten.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/paschons/language_http/essays/Schopenhauer.html |title=Schopenhauer: A Pessimist in the Optimistic Month of May |publisher=Germanic American Institute |access-date=12 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611051923/http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/paschons/language_http/essays/schopenhauer.html |archive-date=11 June 2010  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/selectedessaysof033377mbp/selectedessaysof033377mbp_djvu.txt |title=Full text of "Selected Essays Of Schopenhauer" |access-date=12 March 2010}}</ref> In fact, although they considered her novels of dubious quality, the [[F.A. Brockhaus AG|Brockhaus publishing firm]] held her in high esteem because they consistently sold well. Hans Brockhaus later claimed that his predecessors "saw nothing in this manuscript, but wanted to please one of our best-selling authors by publishing her son's work. We published more and more of her son Arthur's work and today nobody remembers Johanna, but her son's works are in steady demand and contribute to Brockhaus' reputation."<ref name=mom>{{citation |last=Fredriksson |first=Einar H. |contribution=The Dutch Publishing Scene: Elsevier and North-Holland |pages=61–76 |title=A Century of Science Publishing: A Collection of Essays |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mwWrRYyck6AC&pg=PA61 |editor-last=Fredriksson |editor-first=Einar H. |display-editors=0 |isbn=978-4-274-90424-0 |publisher=IOS Press |location=Amsterdam |year=2001 }}</ref> He kept large portraits of the pair in his office in [[Leipzig]] for the edification of his new editors.<ref name=mom/>

Also contrary to his mother's prediction, Schopenhauer's dissertation made an impression on Goethe, to whom he sent it as a gift.{{r|Cartwright|p=241}} Although it is doubtful that Goethe agreed with Schopenhauer's philosophical positions, he was impressed by his intellect and extensive scientific education.{{r|Cartwright|p=243}} Their subsequent meetings and correspondence were a great honor to a young philosopher, who was finally acknowledged by his intellectual hero. They mostly discussed Goethe's newly published (and somewhat lukewarmly received) work on [[Theory of Colours|color theory]]. Schopenhauer soon started writing his own treatise on the subject, ''[[On Vision and Colors]]'', which in many points differed from his teacher's. Although they remained polite towards each other, their growing theoretical disagreements—and especially Schopenhauer's extreme self-confidence and tactless criticisms—soon made Goethe become distant again and after 1816 their correspondence became less frequent.{{r|Cartwright|p=247–265}} Schopenhauer later admitted that he was greatly hurt by this rejection, but he continued to praise Goethe, and considered his color theory a great introduction to his own.{{r|Cartwright|p=252,256,265}}

Another important experience during his stay in Weimar was his acquaintance with Friedrich Majer<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Willson |first=A. Leslie |title=Friedrich Majer: Romantic Indologist |date=1961 |journal=Texas Studies in Literature and Language |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=40–49 |jstor=40753707 |issn=0040-4691}}</ref>—a [[historian of religion]], [[Oriental studies|orientalist]] and disciple of [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]]—who introduced him to [[Eastern philosophy]]{{sfn|Clarke|1997|pages=67–68}}{{r|Cartwright|p=266}} (see also [[#Indology|Indology]]). Schopenhauer was immediately impressed by the ''[[Upanishads]]'' (he called them "the production of the highest human wisdom", and believed that they contained superhuman concepts) and the [[Buddha]],{{sfn|Clarke|1997|pages=67–68}} and put them on a par with Plato and Kant.{{r|Cartwright|p=268,272}} He continued his studies by reading the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', an amateurish German journal ''Asiatisches Magazin'', and ''Asiatick Researches'' by [[the Asiatic Society]].{{r|Cartwright|p=267,272}} Schopenhauer held a profound respect for [[Indian philosophy]];{{sfn|Clarke|1997|pages=67–69}} and loved [[Hindu texts]]. Although he never revered a Buddhist text he regarded [[Buddhism]] as the most distinguished religion.{{sfn|Clarke|1997|pages=273}}{{r|Cartwright|p=272}} His studies on Hindu and Buddhist texts were constrained by the lack of adequate literature,{{sfn|Clarke|1997|page=69}} and the latter were mostly restricted to [[Theravada Buddhism]]. He also claimed that he formulated most of his ideas independently,{{sfn|Clarke|1997|pages=67–68}} and only later realized the similarities with Buddhism.{{r|Cartwright|p=274–276}}

Schopenhauer read the Latin translation and praised the Upanishads in his main work, ''[[The World as Will and Representation]]'' (1819), as well as in his ''[[Parerga and Paralipomena]]'' (1851), and commented

<blockquote>In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schopenhauer |first=Arthur |title=The world as will and idea|date=22 April 2019|publisher=Classic Wisdom Reprint |isbn=978-1-950330-23-2|oclc=1229105608}}</ref></blockquote>

[[Image:Arthur Schopenhauer Portrait by Ludwig Sigismund Ruhl 1815.jpeg|thumb|Schopenhauer in 1815. Portrait by Ludwig Sigismund Ruhl.]]
As the relationship with his mother fell to a new low, in May 1814 he left Weimar and moved to [[Dresden]].{{r|Cartwright|p=265}} He continued his philosophical studies, enjoyed the cultural life, socialized with intellectuals and engaged in sexual affairs.{{r|Cartwright|p=284}} His friends in Dresden were [[Johann Gottlob von Quandt]], [[Friedrich Laun]], [[Karl Christian Friedrich Krause]] and Ludwig Sigismund Ruhl, a young painter who made a romanticized portrait of him in which he improved some of Schopenhauer's unattractive physical features.{{r|Cartwright|p=278,283}} His criticisms of local artists occasionally caused public quarrels when he ran into them in public.{{r|Cartwright|p=282}} Schopenhauer's main occupation during his stay in Dresden was his seminal philosophical work, ''[[The World as Will and Representation]]'', which he started writing in 1814 and finished in 1818.<ref>Although the first volume was published by December 1818, it was printed with a title page erroneously giving the year as 1819 (see {{citation |last=Braunschweig |first=Yael |contribution=Schopenhauer and Rossinian Universiality: On the Italianate in Schopenhauer's Metaphysics of Music <!--|pages=283–304--> |title=The Invention of Beethoven and Rossini: Historiography, Analysis, Criticism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQ_3AQAAQBAJ |editor-last=Mathew |editor-first=Nicholas |editor2-last=Walton |editor2-first=Benjamin |display-editors=0 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=[[Cambridge, England|Cambridge]] |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-521-76805-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NQ_3AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 297, n. 7]}}).</ref> He was recommended to the publisher [[Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus]] by Baron Ferdinand von Biedenfeld, an acquaintance of his mother.{{r|Cartwright|p=285}} Although Brockhaus accepted his manuscript, Schopenhauer made a poor impression because of his quarrelsome and fussy attitude, as well as very poor sales of the book after it was published in December 1818.{{r|Cartwright|p=285–289}}

In September 1818, while waiting for his book to be published and conveniently escaping an affair with a maid that caused an unwanted pregnancy,{{r|Cartwright|p=342}} Schopenhauer left Dresden for a year-long vacation in Italy.{{r|Cartwright|p=346}} He visited [[Venice]], [[Bologna]], [[Florence]], [[Naples]] and [[Milan]], travelling alone or accompanied by mostly English tourists he met.{{r|Cartwright|p=350}} He spent the winter months in [[Rome]], where he accidentally met his acquaintance [[Karl Witte]] and engaged in numerous quarrels with German tourists in the [[Antico Caffè Greco|Caffè Greco]], among them [[Johann Friedrich Böhmer]], who also mentioned his insulting remarks and unpleasant character.{{r|Cartwright|p=348–349}} He enjoyed art, architecture, and ancient ruins, attended plays and operas, and continued his philosophical contemplation and love affairs.{{r|Cartwright|p=346–350}} One of his affairs supposedly became serious, and for a while he contemplated marriage to a rich Italian noblewoman—but, despite his mentioning this several times, no details are known and it may have been Schopenhauer exaggerating.<ref>Safranski, Rüdiger (1991) ''[[Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy]]''. Harvard University Press. p. 244</ref>{{r|Cartwright|p=345}} He corresponded regularly with his sister Adele and became close to her as her relationship with Johanna and Gerstenbergk also deteriorated.{{r|Cartwright|p=344}} She informed him about their financial troubles as the banking house of A. L. Muhl in Danzig—in which her mother invested their whole savings and Arthur a third of his—was near bankruptcy.{{r|Cartwright|p=351}} Arthur offered to share his assets, but his mother refused and became further enraged by his insulting comments.{{r|Cartwright|p=352}} The women managed to receive only thirty percent of their savings while Arthur, using his business knowledge, took a suspicious and aggressive stance towards the banker and eventually received his part in full.{{r|Cartwright|p=354–356}} The affair additionally worsened the relationships among all three members of the Schopenhauer family.{{r|Cartwright|p=352,354}}

He shortened his stay in Italy because of the trouble with Muhl and returned to Dresden.{{r|Cartwright|p=356}} Disturbed by the financial risk and the lack of responses to his book he decided to take an academic position since it provided him with both income and an opportunity to promote his views.{{r|Cartwright|p=358}} He contacted his friends at universities in Heidelberg, Göttingen and Berlin and found [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]] most attractive.{{r|Cartwright|p=358–362}} He scheduled his lectures to coincide with those of the famous philosopher [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|G. W. F. Hegel]], whom Schopenhauer described as a "clumsy charlatan".<ref>Schopenhauer, Arthur. Author's preface to "On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of sufficient reason", p.&nbsp;1 ([[:s:On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason|On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason]] on Wikisource.)</ref> He was especially appalled by Hegel's supposedly poor knowledge of natural sciences and tried to engage him in a quarrel about it already at his test lecture in March 1820.{{r|Cartwright|p=363}} Hegel was also facing political suspicions at the time, when many progressive professors were [[Carlsbad Decrees|fired]], while Schopenhauer carefully mentioned in his application that he had no interest in politics.{{r|Cartwright|p=362}} Despite their differences and the arrogant request to schedule lectures at the same time as his own, Hegel still voted to accept Schopenhauer to the university.{{r|Cartwright|p=365}} Only five students turned up to Schopenhauer's lectures, and he dropped out of [[academia]]. A late essay, "On University Philosophy", expressed his resentment towards the work conducted in academies.