Compassionate Curmudgeon: Why we must root ourselves in the real world
theamericanscholar.orgI was intrigued and ready to defend the premise of the headline... but starting with life's greatest misanthropist and anti-life philosopher (ok, maybe hyperbole) is a big no-go for me.
> From this vast pile of empirical data, Schopenhauer drew a simple maxim: “Do no harm; and help others to the extent you can.”
> This conviction led Schopenhauer to be an ardent abolitionist, a keen advocate of prison and asylum reform, and a fierce opponent of animal cruelty. It is curious to think that his beloved standard poodle, Atma, knew what men and women did not know: that his master believed in the care and concern for all living beings. At Schopenhauer’s funeral in 1860, his first biographer, Wilhelm Gwinner, suggested that “ordinary people saw the misanthrope in him,” but Schopenhauer “was full of compassion” for them. This may have been difficult for Schopenhauer’s contemporaries to perceive.
Like life, this article is mostly pointless.
This made my day. Thank you!
No more tedious cultural mode than contemporary clarification of old philosophy
As George Carlin said: Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.
While knowing that can help you have compassion for them, it doesn't make listening to them any less exhausting.