Abstract

This study is a four-part essay on The World as Will and Representation. Young follows the divisions of Schopenhauer's main work while offering "an examination of Schopenhauer's metaphysics from the standpoint of contemporary analytic philosophy," as Rudolf Malter describes the book in its forward. Despite its subtitle, this book focuses on the theoretical rather than practical implications of Schopenhauer's arguments. Young announces his thesis in the preface: "I argue that he [Schopenhauer] does not, in fact, claim the world in itself to be will at all. Rather, he agrees with Kant that it is, to the rational mind at least, unknowable". Given that Schopenhauer is usually read as having overcome Kant's distinction between appearances and the in-itself with his claim that everything is, at bottom, will, Young's thesis is both unusual and controversial.