Five decisive years

pp. 41-52

in: Paul H. Lauxtermann, Schopenhauer's broken world-view, Berlin, Springer, 2000

Abstract

Schopenhauer's dissertation is customarily read solely in the second, partly rewritten and enlarged edition of 1847; the original version of 1813 may with justice be called a forgotten work. This is much to be regretted. True, it is written in a much less brilliant, much more pedantic style than Schopenhauer's later work clearly it still has an eye on the academy, as Safranski has rightly observed.⁷³ But the point is that this juvenile work throws a very interesting light upon Schopenhauer's intellectual development, such that a thorough acquaintance with it may well be called indispensable for a proper understanding of its author's place in the history of philosophy.