Studies in Pessimism by Arthur Schopenhauer
Some wonderful Schopenhauerian prose from LibriVox and read by D.E. Wittkower.
Chapters:
00:00 Start
00:21 On the Sufferings of the World
33:58 On the Vanity of Existence
46:44 On Suicide
1:00:55 Immortality: a Dialogue
1:12:10 Psychological Observations
2:04:43 On Education
2:23:10 Of Women
2:59:35 On Noise
3:12:14 A Few Parables
#philosophy #schopenhauer #pessimism
Пікірлер: 579
Here are the chapters (for whatever reason, they don't seem to consistently work on the channel): 00:21 On the Sufferings of the World 33:58 On the Vanity of Existence 46:44 On Suicide 1:00:55 Immortality: a Dialogue 1:12:10 Psychological Observations 2:04:43 On Education 2:23:10 Of Women 2:59:35 On Noise 3:12:14 A Few Parables
@neilmacdonald6637
2 жыл бұрын
siqqqqqqqq
@WeenkerIV
2 жыл бұрын
EI’m p
@ashiquebava3950
2 жыл бұрын
😘
@frankie3834
Жыл бұрын
😊lol
@frankie3834
Жыл бұрын
Please
My favorite bed time story
@mauriziomzio2035
Жыл бұрын
....ha.... ha..... ha!
@justathought9591
Жыл бұрын
Ahahaha 😂
@skronked
Жыл бұрын
Dude is top shelf!
@skronked
Жыл бұрын
@Chlem Elisha haha
@outofbox000
Жыл бұрын
Mine too
This isn't dark. This is liberating.
Ahhh. A perfect bedtime story to drag my consciousness underground after another 12 hour amazon shift.
@nikitasidoryuk852
Жыл бұрын
Amazon shifts are no joke
@oomenacka
Жыл бұрын
@@precisi0n86 Phones/music/headphones aren't allowed on the floor :/
@TheKingWhoWins
Жыл бұрын
I hope you find a better job. Warehouse work suffocates the soul
@Vezorlm
Жыл бұрын
I should be starting at Amazon soon.
@KarlHessey-db6mf
Жыл бұрын
Phew twelve hours, that's a stint, just finished a 8 hour at the recycling plant, yuk
"Life is fucked." - Arthur Schopenhauer
@sukhvii
7 ай бұрын
“Life is fucked, but we can make it better” - Albert Camus
@slasianbillu
3 ай бұрын
“Life is fucked but who cares!". Slasian Z Mankrian
@DennisMHenderson
3 ай бұрын
“‘Life’ is fukt because you like it that way & wouldn’t have it any other”
@darksydeeee
2 ай бұрын
"Life is fucked or life is not fucked.. it'll regret both" Søren kierkegaard
@khdvhdv6435
15 күн бұрын
"Life is fucked, but stop being such a little bitch about it" ~Marcus Aurelius
A lot of these lines made me involuntary laugh. There's relief in confronting Suffering without the obligatory "silver lining" arguments people usually reach for.
@gointomexico
8 ай бұрын
Same. It's because it's absurd.
@NoOne-tg9tk
8 ай бұрын
I believe because it's absurd
@zachvanslyke4341
4 ай бұрын
Yes. It’s actually more fun when you remember there’s ultimately no point to any of this
I love this book. It's not often that one can find bitterness comforting. But Shopie finds a way to pull it off.
@juanpablomontalvo4715
2 жыл бұрын
What do you find comforting? It honestly sounds like a man desperate to intellectualize his depression and misanthropy
@kimyunmi452
2 жыл бұрын
This book shall be the consolation of my life and the consolation of my death. Thank you schopenhauer for speaking directly to me. You and karl popper have taught me so much.
@user_jack
Жыл бұрын
Please don't call him shopie...
@ozzylepunknown551
Жыл бұрын
@@juanpablomontalvo4715 hope is a disorder that makes us struggle for longer than we need to, and this man gets it.
@wowthatsalowprice8942
Жыл бұрын
@@juanpablomontalvo4715 You say that as if depression and misanthropy are somehow undeserving of contemplation and articulation.
He GETS it.
@Anon-tt9rz
10 ай бұрын
it's both funny and sad that majority of this still holds true, he did get it.
The way he SHREDDED women is so random and unprovoked, which makes it hilarious 🤣
@luisd5098
Жыл бұрын
Quiet down
@unorthodoxdetox
Жыл бұрын
😆
An exceptional reading, thank you. I read Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Spengler, and Wittgenstein for the same reason: for sober minded philosophy, which doesn’t shy away from the bitterness of life, and the difficulty of thinking. Their work is a remedy to the ailments of life.
@ConcreteJungleSickness
Жыл бұрын
Lol. There's no remedy at all.
@elia8544
Жыл бұрын
@@ConcreteJungleSickness care to elaborate
@DawsonSWilliams
Жыл бұрын
@@elia8544 An lol kind of guy is not the elaborate type. We have to at least philosophize to draw any conclusions about the value of life-even if it be the inherit meaningless of existence, or the lack of free will. When I say remedy, I don’t mean an opiate.
@ConcreteJungleSickness
Жыл бұрын
You either become strong enough to rise to the occasion or die like scum for letting down the culture that gave birth to you. Philosophizing on the "meaninglessness" of existence is a cop out. Calling life itself meaningless is a cop out.
@ConcreteJungleSickness
Жыл бұрын
It isn't such human stuff that an exacting High Culture can use to further its Destiny. The common man is the material with which great political leaders work. In earlier centuries, the common man did not attend the Cultural drama. It didn't interest him, and the participants were not yet under the Rationalistic spell, the “counting-mania,” as Nietzsche called it. When democratic conditions proceed to their extreme, the result is that even the leaders are common men, with the jealous and crooked soul of envy of that to which they are not equal, like Roosevelt and his coterie in America. In his cult of “The Common Man,” he was deifying himself, like Caligula. The abolition of quality smothers the exceptional man in his youth and turns him into a cynic.
I don't find him miserable. I find he is comforting. ✨
@juanpablomontalvo4715
2 жыл бұрын
How tho
@downandout73
2 жыл бұрын
I do too.
@paulatreides0777
Жыл бұрын
Its a paradox but he is the most comforting Philosopher
@DawsonSWilliams
Жыл бұрын
Much like Spinoza, whose Ethics seem inaccessible to so many first time readers-later, people often realize that Spinoza’s soft-determinism is actually consoling because of its accuracy.
@thomasbarchen
Жыл бұрын
So do I! It's a little like black metal music, comforting.
I listened to this every Sunday or whenever I'm feeling down, it always makes me feel better. Better because I can entirely relate. Life is essentially bullshit and every where you go poeple lie to you. They lie to themselves and live within a psychosis. Schopenhauer is cathartic even in pessimism. It so refreshing and freeing to hear honesty. Imagine a world where the nature of existence was accepted as suffering. Then no one would have anything better to do than to work towards minimalizing it. Except that's what we all do individually and society likes to pretend that it doesn't only seek pleasure by punishing those who opening do. Poeple like to think we were blessed to exist, that the earth was made for us but I would argue against that and it is easily provable. Step onto your front lawn and absorb how everything tries to eat you immediately. That is the nature of existence.
@cloudfloat4179
Жыл бұрын
I do understand what you mean, nature is a pretty brutal game. A game that existence is playing with Itself. But there really is no winner or loser at the end, just existence.. should read a bit of philosophical daoism. Interesting stuff.
@Squirrel-zq6oe
Жыл бұрын
@@cloudfloat4179 I agree with you there. If you think of yourself as separate from nature, then yeah like is hard and things try to eat you. But there is also the though that we are the thing eating
@cloudfloat4179
Жыл бұрын
Yes, if I understood you correctly. Every individual, that being the lion or the gazelle, has the feeling of being an individual "i", though not as sophisticated as humans self awareness but this "i" is the Self, existence it Self if you will. Of course every one thing or individual is different through different types of DNA, experience, patterns of vibration etc.. but let's say vibration itself of on and off is existence. I hope you understand what I mean... 😆 🤣 😆 🤣
@NondescriptMammal
Жыл бұрын
I agree with you in general, but I must say... you need a new front lawn
@kennythelenny6819
Жыл бұрын
@@cloudfloat4179 This is what puzzles me. I resonated with your second sentence; A game that existence is playing with itself. Everything is made out of the elements. Then they 'decided' to form and differentiate into other forms. Some became sentient others not. The sentient ones thrive on eating, fucking and killing each other and exploiting/manipulating the inanimate for the same purpose. I cannot for the life of me figure why. It seems it's a game made to get rid of boredom. The game absolutely sucks!!!!
"In which ever way a man may have failed, he cannot have lost much..."
I'm familiar with Schopenhauer, but I've never read this. I can tell right away that it is an instant favorite. Such a beautiful prose style, and so many bitter yet true insights. I feel like looking all this in the face is necessary on the path to enlightenment (the ways that the Buddha started with "life is suffering"). None looked suffering in the face so completely as this.
@BorisBirkenbaum
10 ай бұрын
There is no enlightenment. Sorry.
@gointomexico
8 ай бұрын
There are many paths to enlightenment. It is a personal journey unique to you.
@JayTX.
5 ай бұрын
@@gointomexico But ones that do not suffer do not become enlightened...so is it...
This is what I like, an honest writer
@abortodedios
Жыл бұрын
Att: Nietzsche
@Moribus_Artibus
Жыл бұрын
@@abortodedios My username is a quote from his Beyond Good and Evil. I know Nietzsche well, señor.
This reader is amazing. I listen to this one frequently, often as background and he really makes mediocre readers stand out.
@BorisBirkenbaum
10 ай бұрын
That's very true i agree.
This book has changed my life on a daily basis
@nativeamericancowboy5028
Жыл бұрын
Something else can change your life: Getting the crap beaten out of you by a MMA fighter, minus the injuries. Hands down the most uplifting experience I've ever had in my life.
@chillerstones
Жыл бұрын
@@nativeamericancowboy5028 ok?
@menzisaclown
Жыл бұрын
True indeed
@No_Avail
9 ай бұрын
@@nativeamericancowboy5028 Curious, did the MMA beatdown experience expand or deplete the masculine ego? Or, perhaps, _refine_ it? (I'm assuming it's about ego, but maybe that's not what changed in your case)
@nativeamericancowboy5028
9 ай бұрын
@@No_Avail it subdues the ego. It mellows and relaxes the ego. You tend to desire things a lot less. It puts you in a state of mine that everything is fine just the way it is, and no changes are necessary.
Schopenhauer doesnt seem like a pessimist rather an objective observer if the reality he's experiencing. I find his work to be hilarious, deep, insightful, and encouraging. When I'm reading schopenhauer it's like I've met a brother, a kindred spirit that speaks to my soul.
All libravox recordings are in the public domain. - Arthur Schopenhauer
@Boris_Chang
5 ай бұрын
Offer ends soon, but wait: there’s more… - Soupy Sales
Here to pay my respects. This audio is what got me into Schopenhauer. The narrator’s voice is like a narcotic, and Schopenhauer’s writing is so immediate that it resonated with me instantly. It’s way more comforting than I ever would have expected. His pessimism, as opposed to striking me as bleak and depressing, struck me as profound, consoling and freeing. Thank you, D.E. Wittkower for bringing Schopenhauer to life for me. And thank you, Philosophy Overdose, for uploading it to KZread. (Fitting name, by the way!)
@lemon-yi6yh
6 ай бұрын
Same for me, although it was surely another video which this a clone of since it was almost 8 years ago. Completely changed my life. I can barely put it into words and this is an experience common among many people, both common and uncommon, that came across this guy. We all felt as if hit by a train. As if God came down and explained to mere mortals in otherworldly clarity the workings of his world. It feels as if it's wrong for a human to understand this much. Unholy, alien, forbidden knowledge. I'm an absolute physicalist, these are just figures of speech. ..Sokrates and Plato, Kant and Shopenhauer, they are the most original funmakers of the universe. The others are just chewing on them. Or try to. I have PudelMan`s:"The world as will and imagination" for 12 years now. Never got beyond page 100, though i made 3 attempts. This book scares me. Really. Too much truth at once, such density, it definitely lessens the common ground you are standing on with "the others". And at such speed, that you have barely the time to adjust your feet. A Bukowskian poem of a Bukowskian fan I found on the internet. Schopenhauer's works are exemplary of the saying "what has been seen cannot be unseen". Utter revelation and disillusionment. Like Adam an Eve biting from the Tree of Knowledge.
This is so true, reality is so miserable, and for what, we all end up dead anyway.
@aj5424
5 ай бұрын
Yes, but we have to wait a long time until we are dead. So we have to find meaning otherwise what is the alternative?
@i0073
5 ай бұрын
@@aj5424 idk, it would be nice to free oneself from the suffering of life, from the anxiety of existence. In a way the acknowledgment of nihilism, nothing has any meaning or value and the belief in nothing frees you mentally. If we are to die in the end, if all of our efforts, all of our sacrifices, all of our suffering in the present moment are essentially pointless and meaningless. Then as the observer and experiencer of the present moment, why should I shackle myself to a dilution of meaning that will only increase the amount of suffering I experience. Why not affirm life’s meaningless? At least I hope that in practice nihilism can lead to mental or psychological freedom. I would hate for the meaning I gave to life to make life seem so serious that it becomes a misery worse than death. Also, the understanding that nothing matters, that death will eventually come for us, although it is sad, it is a part of life and when I have anxiety or life seems unbearable that thought is comforting and freeing. I’m not sure if I explained it well tbh I am still thinking about this, but it would be nice to be mentally free through nihilism, and then you would be able to strive for something in life without it feeling too serious and causing suffering.
@Boris_Chang
5 ай бұрын
Row row row your boat…
My favourite philosopher I have chosen this for.my research in doctorate
@devanshrathore9112
19 күн бұрын
Kashmir?
Wittkower is the best reader of Schopenhauer I have ever heard. Absolutely brilliant.
Yes! Take that Nietzsche! Will to Power is nothing other than recognizing the futility of our own existence!
His take on women is refreshing 😂.
At least i know that this guy, being dead, is not trying to grift me or spying on me. Tthank you.
Leibniz been real quiet since this dropped
Amazing. Thanks for this😊
Perfect, absolutely perfect.
uplifting!
The porcupine parable is justly celebrated, and I always think of it whenever I, unfortunately, find myself in any gathering of the uncouth.
So true...every bit of it.
Schopenhauer was like a great saint
Great reading
This really has little to do about pessimism. He is observing life. The part about noise is truly comedy😂😂 love it.
Great read.
he spittin factz fr fr
Hi Arthur. I love you and I love this book
Great to fall asleep to.
@mikerazor8246
Жыл бұрын
you're not supposed to fall asleep, you're supposed to listen and reflect about pessimism and pain.
@Boris_Chang
5 ай бұрын
You’re supposed to wake up !!
The way he conveys the words, makes me feel blissful
Boredom is just another form of suffering. - Arthur Schopenhauer As Madam De Stael put it: “We must choose in life between boredom and suffering.”
At 1:01, the translator tries to justify replacing the original "Unzerstörbarkeit" (indestructibility) with Unsterblichkeit (immortality) in death because the latter is easier to understand, but 1) the former makes sense because once you're dead you can't be destroyed (indestructible) but the latter doesn't because once you're dead you've died and thus are not immortal 2) immortality would be a nightmare to somebody like S. who adopts the Buddhist view that all life is suffering and 3) in the realm of philosophy, being easily understandable is the same thing as banal/cliché because a revelation is necessarily entirely new, at least to Western culture, although it may already have been known to a small minority of Buddhist/Hindu sages.
@leonnavillus641
Жыл бұрын
Excellent comment.Thank you.
This book is only as dark as you allow it to be. Once one understands how to properly see through Schopenhauer's lense of pessimism, you realize that the concepts discussed are an enlightened take on life. Enlightening because these are fundamental and deeply freeing concepts. Coming from a religious background, this blasphemy turns into a renaissance of reality. This may seem pitch black, especially the first three chapters, but as long as you don't contrast your life with the points being made, and allow yourself to look at them objectively, the shade of darkness will lighten. As long as you have the mental fortitude to think about these concepts in regards to life in general, I believe this is fundamentally one of the most enlightening philosophical lenses.
Thank you!
You opened my soul in a most wonderful way with this lecture.
war greed sex drug addiction and and vengeance are all part of human nature. we should teach that to our children.
@David-cm4ok
Ай бұрын
We do. That’s the problem.
Well narrated. Thank you.
Wow! just WOW!
Such a perfect reading. I can feel Schopenhauer’s scowl and disgust as he observes his fellow wretched humans.
After reading these comments I'm convinced 90% of you cherry picked specific chapters and barely made it through them. Look up the definition of pessimism and understand what these writings are describing. Even if you don't agree with something that doesn't mean it's not worth consideration. Chew on the ideas that you disagree with most and figure out why you dislike them.
Why does nobody talk about this stuff daily?
@vermin5367
Жыл бұрын
Some do, but it's a minority interest.
@typeinusernameisunav
Жыл бұрын
itll make enemies, who usually dont like talking
@archangel4597
9 ай бұрын
people hold on to their delusions for dear life
@LongHoangNguyen-no2mj
7 ай бұрын
It's because propaganda is making people ignorant. Do you think content like this would even have a chance on social media?
@leo32190
7 ай бұрын
@@joeybeannwhat’s your email, we can start a philosophy discussion group
I love Schopenhauer
Thank you for uploading this you are saving me a trip to the library and if you’re motivated please put more Arthur Schopenhauer philosophy on here too.
@JayTX.
5 ай бұрын
Oh no I will also be buying a copy for the shelf
@lovalonband
8 күн бұрын
100%
I wake up every morning with that exact hair. Life is suffering.
Ahh pure chills
This book is only as dark as you allow it to be. This may seem pitch black, especially the first three chapters, but as long as you don't contrast your life with the points being made, and allow yourself to look at them objectively, the shade of darkness will lighten. As long as you have the mental fortitude to think about these concepts in regards to life in general, I believe this is fundamentally one of the most enlightening philosophical lenses.
@user-vg3oi6zu3w
5 ай бұрын
btw are u an optimist? just askin cuz im curious and scared to read Schopenhauer
I wonder if this guy partied down on the weekends after a long week of grinding out pessimism on the paper.🎉 🎉
@dearservice1998
3 ай бұрын
I think he was virtually a recluse
That Chapter 3, beautiful, RIP Kyle Connelly
Thank You for your λόγοσ. Indeed.
The cracking of the whip sound is like ppl alarming thier vehicles with honking of a horn all day all night long
I cant find Matthias Claudius’ “cursed is the ground…” online anywhere! Anyone know where to find it?
Pain is inevitable suffering is optional
@user-vg3oi6zu3w
5 ай бұрын
true
Ecclesiastes 1:14 King James Version 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
@lex.cordis
8 ай бұрын
Indeed.
@JayTX.
5 ай бұрын
Solomon Ecclesiastes rang out to me as some of the first nihilism writings. I have sought after knowledge and madness, And with much knowledge comes much suffering
Love=recognition of suffering...
Yes! It’s back, I was hung up at around 1:40 hours then your channel got deleted, thanks so much :) Btw, do you have anything of Deleuze by chance? Would be great!
@andresdubon2608
Жыл бұрын
Do you know why it was deleted?
This guy is like the source material for a lot of stand up comedy
Verry good 👍😉✌
Like Cioran, pessimism that gives strange pleasure
what does "fila lefes" mean ..? and the the other "fila..(somethings) that are repeated..?
The Edgar Allan Poe of philosophers.
8:30 absolutely, this one for Hegel 😂
@sunilrampuria7906
Жыл бұрын
Haha yeah
I ❤ schlopenhoove
Wow, this is really well, pessimistic.
Why has the subtitle been removed?
I wonder what Seneca would think or Arthur?
As Lindsay Buckingham said: “There are two kinds of trouble in this world: Living and Dying.”
❤❤❤❤
Each time our feelings drives us to pessimist emotions it s time to adjust to more awareness in order to feel better
Well put and beautifully said , unfortunately we men have fallen so far that are blinded to the consequences of men who lead us into this current mess that we live in.
@Anicius_
Жыл бұрын
Problem is in the 'men' that lead the 'men'. Being the men created by men. Its the snake biting its own tail again and again
Nice picture 🤗
Thanks bro
@Philosophy_Overdose
2 жыл бұрын
Thank God for the Wayback Machine lol
Can you imagine if a modern day philosopher came out with the same opinion of women as this bloke?
@jescowhite3708
Жыл бұрын
So what if a modern day philosopher were honest about the nature of women? Yes, that would be refreshing as Schopenhauer's chapter on them.
@daanisch
Жыл бұрын
there’s no such thing as a modern day philosopher
@luisd5098
Жыл бұрын
It's mgtow now
@jamm_affinity
Жыл бұрын
They are all over the place in the Twitter manosphere. TellYourSonThis is one of them. Just not mainstream so they don’t attract a lot of hate.
@BEYOND-EGO
Жыл бұрын
Thats why the modern world sucks, fake and lies
Shows adequate concern about not brainwashing kids, in chapter six. Lenin was best at leading any government in the world determined to eradicate inequalities and injustices. Had he lived a little longer, he might have implemented policies in child education to minimize brainwashing. He’d have insisted on teaching rationality and critical thinking as the main subject of all formal education.
Sumptuous
Time stamps : 18:17
Miserable but brilliant man
@msclolololol1809
2 жыл бұрын
You are miserable
Who is the narrator? He is excellent.
Well gee, thanks for the pick me up.
@David-cm4ok
Ай бұрын
You’re new here, I can tell.
Arthur made me embrace my dark side
@user-hu3iy9gz5j
Жыл бұрын
Don't do it Anakin
@mism847
3 ай бұрын
«Good, let the hate flow through you»
Yo this slaps
“A state of delight that may even prove fatal” is best avoided, and it appears he did that well. When was someone seen to have died from being too happy?
@lemon-yi6yh
6 ай бұрын
drug overdose, effects of drug use on health over time, heart attack while having sex, dying because you neglected something serious because you were happy and carefree (stupid). something along these lines I imagine.
This is the most German book I’ve ever read!!!
It should be a site-wide requirement that uploaded videos have their audio normalized to the same dB level.
@Philosophy_Overdose
9 ай бұрын
Yeah, I was gonna reupload it precisely because of the volume.
@penumbral_psithurism
9 ай бұрын
@@Philosophy_Overdose The funny part is, it's not necessarily that your video is normalized to -2dB, but that the channel I was watching before was -5dB!!!
@Philosophy_Overdose
9 ай бұрын
@@penumbral_psithurism Well, I still think that the audio is too loud here. I always try to make sure that videos are now at a much lower volume and that it is the same volume throughout videos. But yeah, I agree with you about the variation. I absolutely hate the massive variation too, not only across a single platform, but across the same channels, and especially throughout one and the same video!
@danieldavidisson9906
6 ай бұрын
@@Philosophy_Overdose I thought I read somewhere that youtube automatically set volume at -14dB. Obviously not.
1:00:55
this is lowkey great to fall asleep to
BASED AF
Aha! Thanks for the video(*_*) Btw Scott McQuate is the Truth!
Scientia Potentia Est
Schopenhauer thought books were warping peoples world view, just image what he would think about today
@Goawaypleasenow
7 ай бұрын
well some of his views were certainly warped themselves
1:02:03