Schopenhauer on the Character of the World The Metaphysics of Will [Hardcover]

The most extensive English-language study of Schopenhauer's metaphysics of the will yet published, this book represents a major contribution to Schopenhauer scholarship. Here, John E. Atwell critically but sympathetically examines the philosopher's main work,The World as Will and Representation, demonstrating that the philosophical system it puts forthdoesconstitute a consistent whole. The author holds that this system is centered on a single thought, The world is self-knowledge of the will. He then traces this unifying concept through the four books ofThe World as Will and Representation, and, in the process, dissolves the work's alleged inconsistencies.

John E. Atwell, Professor of Philosophy at Temple University, is author ofSchopenhauer: The Human Character(1990) andEnds and Principles in Kant's Moral Thought(1986).

I suspect that this will becomethebook on Schopenhauer's metaphysics for many years to come, and will be required reading for any serious student of Schopenhauer's thought. David E. Cartwright, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater