This masterwork stands at the heart of Western philosophy: in The World as Will and Representation, Arthur Schopenhauer unfolds a vision both austere and profound. The world we experience is not the world as it fundamentally is: it is our representation, shaped by our minds. Beneath that shimmering veil lies the Will: a blind, unending force that drives all being and suffering. Schopenhauer’s language is exacting, his insight unflinching. He guides us through the realm of appearance toward the core of existence, to confront the anguish of desire and to glimpse the possibility of escape in quiet contemplation and art.

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Arthur Schopenhauer (born February 22, 1788 in Danzig - died September 21, 1860 in Frankfurt-am-Main) was a German philosopher, known for his metaphysical doctrine of the Will and his confrontation with idealist philosophy. He earned his doctorate in 1813 and later published his major work The World as Will and Representation in 1818. 

Schopenhauer’s philosophy posits that beneath the world as representation lies the Will: a blind, ceaseless striving that underpins all existence and suffering. His work exerted profound influence on later thinkers, existentialists, psychologists and artists.