Schopenhauer and Gotama on life's suffering

This chapter defends the view that Arthur Schopenhauer and Siddhattha Gotama were unquestionably pessimistic philosophers, insofar as they converged in locating the source of life’s suffering within the person rather than the external world. However, in the process of outlining the significant conti...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ryan, Christopher
Other Authors: Shapshay, Sandra
Format: Book Section
Language:English
Published: Palgrave Macmillan 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/5910/1/394587_1_En_18_Chapter_Author.pdf
Description
Summary:This chapter defends the view that Arthur Schopenhauer and Siddhattha Gotama were unquestionably pessimistic philosophers, insofar as they converged in locating the source of life’s suffering within the person rather than the external world. However, in the process of outlining the significant continuities between their respective phenomenological analyses of life’s suffering, the chapter detects an important divergence between them. This stems from their contrasting metaphysical positions, and ultimately impacts upon their respective interpretations of the significance of life’s suffering, as well as their proposed solutions to it.