pairustwo t1_jckz5uc wrote
I wonder about non western influence on Shopenhauer. His 'resignation' and appreciation concepts sound as if they were lifted from a meditation lecture.
robothistorian t1_jcl4h09 wrote
Scopnehauer was apparently heavily influenced by his reading of the Upanishads, which are some of the key Hindu philosophical texts. What I am not sure is the quality of the translations that he read since we do know he did not read them in the original Sanskrit.
YuYuHunter t1_jcu6fzo wrote
Schopenhauer read the Oupnek'hat, which is a collection of Upanishads, mixed with the commentary of Shankara, which the freethinking sultan Dara Shikoh had ordered to be translated to Persian. According to the scholar Paul Deussen, it is an extremely bothersome work to read:
>Owing to the excessive literality with which Anquetil Duperron rendered these Upanishads word by word from the Persian into Latin, while preserving the syntax of the former language, — a literality that stands in striking contrast to the freedom with which the Persian translators treated the Sanskrit text, — the Oupnek'hat is a very difficult book to read ; and an insight as keen as that of Schopenhauer was required in order to discover within this repellent husk a kernel of invaluable philosophical significance, and to turn it to account for his own system. (The Philosophy of the Upanishads)
Guga_ t1_jcl413a wrote
Arthur Schopenhauer shows in his texts an influence from Hinduism as it was translated into Europe (as limited as those translations were).
dafugee t1_jcpfti8 wrote
Just to echo what others have said, Schopenhauer was into the Vedantist/Brahmanism of the Upanishads. In the Upanishads, there is the Atman (translated many ways) which is also called the Self or God in existence (as opposed to Brahman or the universal infinite God that can’t be put into conception).
Instead of Atman, Schopenhauer used the term Will. His most famous (and really only) book is called The World as Will and Representation. Representation as Maya, illusion of separate things representing themselves as the material world, and Will as Atman, the true underlying/changeless force emanating maya.
The whole of Schopenhauer’s initial foundation for his philosophy is Vedantic, just not necessarily his conclusions.
Domovnik_ t1_jclkxpn wrote
How much do you wonder about it on the scale of 1 to 10? 2 being opening the article and reading about it.
pairustwo t1_jcllnx4 wrote
There is nothing in the article about Eastern philosophy. Only Kant is mentioned as a foundation of his thought. There was simply enough of his philosophy for me to notice the parallels.
Ironically, it is clear that you yourself didn't open and read the article before commenting.
Domovnik_ t1_jclqn71 wrote
I must've confused it with another article about Schopenhauer that I had read earlier which goes more in depth about those influences. He even had a bust of Buddha on his writing desk. My mistake then, I was convinced I had read it in this article.
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