Schopenhauer: Human Life as a Meaningless Struggle (Pre Read)

A man finds himself, to his great astonishment, suddenly existing, after thousands and thousands of years of non-existence: he lives for a little while; and then, again, comes an equally long period when he must exist no more. The heart rebels against this, and feels that it cannot be true. The crudest intellect cannot speculate on such a subject without having a presentiment that Time is something ideal in its nature. This ideality of Time and Space is the key to every true system of metaphysics.

We will read the extract on p. 818 of the PDF of the Cottingham Anthology.

We will also consult this video.
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This group examines the history of Metaphysics by looking primarily at European thinkers in chronological order. Great effort is made to include lesser known thinkers whose thought has historical significance. We will occasionally examine non-European metaphysics too to provide context and comparison.

The organizer is not an expert on Metaphysics but has a long experience in organizing similar meetings. He also has an Oxford PhD in European History as well as a Cambridge MPhil on the same discipline. He currently teaches foreign languages.

Our meeting time is: Tuesday 2 pm(Los Angeles)/5 pm (New York)/10 pm (London).

Other meetings in the History of Metaphysics series:

October 4, Fichte
October 11, Hegel
October 24, Why does the Universe exist?
November 1, Aztec Metaphysics