Schopenhauer
叔本華
Schopenhauer was the son of a wealthy merchant, Heinrich Floris Schopenhauer, and his wife, Johanna, who was a famous local writer. In 1793,when Danzig came under Prussian sovereignty, they moved to the free city of Hamburg. Arthur enjoyed a gentlemanly private education. He then attended a private business school, where he became acquainted with the spirit of the Enlightenment and was exposed to a Pietistic attitude sensitive to the plight of man.
叔本華出生在富有的商人之家,父親名叫海因里?!じヂ謇锼埂な灞救A,母親約翰娜是當地小有名氣的作家。1793年,格但斯克被普魯士占領,他們一家搬到了自由城市漢堡。叔本華在漢堡受到了貴族式的私人教育,然后他進入一所私立商學院學習,在那里他接觸到啟蒙思想,也培養了自己對人類痛苦極其敏感的虔誠態度。
The World as Will and Representation was born during Schopenhauer's residence in Dresden. It was written in a non-academic style, with an ironic, aristocratic tone. Friedrich Nietzsche, who found a copy of The World as Will and Representation in a second-hand bookstore, did not put the book down until he had finished it. According to Schopenhauer, existence is the expression of an insatiable, pervasive will generating a terrible world of conflict and suffering, senselessness, and futility. Very shortly, the world is a bad joke. The “will to live” perpetuates this cosmic spectacle. The goal of someone who sees through the illusions of life is the denial of this powerful will to live. Love serves the reproductive interests of the species and sexual impulse, the most powerful motive in human existence.
《作為意志和表象的世界》這本著作是叔本華住在德累斯頓期間寫下的。這本書的風格是非學術性的,而是嘲諷的、貴族式的語氣。尼采曾在一個二手書店里發現了一本《作為意志和表象的世界》,他一口氣把它看完才放回書架上。叔本華認為,存在是一種無所不在,貪得無厭的意志的表象,這種意志產生了一個充滿矛盾、痛苦,沒有絲毫感情和意義的恐怖世界。簡單地說,這個世界就是個拙劣的玩笑?!吧娴囊庵尽笔惯@世界世世代代運轉下去。某些人想要看穿生命假象的目的否定了這種強烈的意志。愛情只是為物種的繁衍和性沖動服務,這是人類存在最強有力的動機。
At the beginning of 1820, Schopenhauer advertised a course of lectures to be given at the same time as Friedrich and Hegel’s. But when Hegel attracted more students the course did not proceed. The epidemic of cholera, during which Hegel died, drove him to Frankfurt. After that, he lived in relative isolation, preferring the company of dogs to people. Five-sixths of human beings are worth only contempt, he once wrote. It was claimed that he once pushed a neighbor down a flight of stairs for disturbing him. As a result, the unlucky seamstress could not continue in his former profession.
1820年初,叔本華建議開一堂課,恰巧這門課與費希特和黑格爾的課是同時開的。當黑格爾吸引了更多學生的時候,叔本華的這門課就無法繼續進行了。后來,因為黑格爾所死于的那場霍亂的流行,叔本華搬到了法蘭克福。此后,他生活在一個相對隔絕的環境里,與人的陪伴相比,他更喜歡狗的陪伴。他曾經寫道,六分之五的人只配得到輕蔑。有人稱,他曾把鄰居推下樓梯,理由只是他受到了打擾。結果,這個不幸的女裁縫再也不能繼續做她的工作了。
Shopenhauer died in Frankfurt of a heart attack on September 21, 1860. Nearing his death he had said to Eduard Grisenbach: “If at times I have thought myself unfortunate, it is because of a confusion, an error. I have mistaken myself for someone else... Who am I really?...”
叔本華于1860年9月21日在法蘭克福去世,死于心臟病突發。他死前曾對格萊森和說:“如果有時我認為自己不幸的話,那是因為一個困惑,一個錯誤。我已經錯誤地把自己當成了別人…我究竟是誰呢?…”