Abstract

An examination of Schopenhauer’s epistemology can considerably enhance our appreciation of his philosophical achievement in at least three major ways: First, by shedding light on the unity and internal coherence of his system ; second, by clearly revealing some of his fundamental disagreements with Kant; and, finally, by making it plain that he is less removed from the mainstream epistemology-centred tradition of modern philosophy than some have supposed. To make good on these claims, I address three questions about his epistemology: Does Schopenhauer accept a foundationalist theory of epistemic justification? On what grounds does he reject skepticism concerning our knowledge of the external world? and In what does he think the true philosophical significance of skepticism consists?