Selected readings on Suffering and the Wisdom of Life
Schopenhauer, Arthur
Schopenhauer, in two abridged essays, argues for, among other claims, the claim that human life is not worth living, that is, that the good life is unattainable by anyone ("On the Suffering of the World"); that the best life attainable for human beings is one of self-sufficiency and intellectual contemplation but that this still requires good health and a cheerful disposition ("The Wisdom of Life"); and finally that society brings more bad than good to one's life and should only be indulged when absolutely necessary ("Counsels and Maxims").
All three excerpts included in this course reading derive from the two volume German work originally published (1851) as Parerga und Paralipomena, translated by R.J. Hollingdale and T. Bailey Saunders.
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