Schopenhauer’s biography (1 of 5): The first turning point

I regard the biography of Arthur #schopenhauer (1788-1860) as worth studying because it provides a wonderful illustration of Schopenhauer’s ideas; he practised what he preached at each opportunity and published extensive notes about his thoughts. Schopenhauer is one of the best German-language thinkers and essayists, but he was born in Danzig, which is nowadays called Gdansk and belongs to Poland. His parents were both hard-working and successful, each of them in their own way. His mother was named Johanna. By the time Arthur Schopenhauer was still a teenager, she had already attained best-seller status with her romantic novels. Nevertheless, the largest share of the family income came from Arthur Schopenhauer’s father. His full name was Heinrich Floris Schopenhauer and had attained remarkable #success in an import-export business in which he was a partner. The family wealth enabled Arthur Schopenhauer to benefit from an excellent education, but life didn’t spare him a massive #setback in his infancy. When he was five years old, his father died unexpectedly. Joanna Schopenhauer could not make up for the lost father, but devoted vast resources to Arthur’s education. She hired teachers to tutor Arthur at home in languages (German, French and English), music, and other subjects. For what concerns primary education, Arthur was primarily home schooled. In 1797, Arthur began attending the Gymnasium, that is, the secondary #education in preparation for the university. He was only nine-years old when he enrolled in the Gymnasium. That is very young for today’s standards, but was not unusual in the eighteenth century. Schopenhauer’s biographers note that he was a loner at the Gymnasium. In his work “Parerga and Paralipomena,” we find Schopenhauer’s own explanation for his loneliness. He felt that he was more intelligent and sophisticated than his peers. It was difficult for him to enjoy their jokes, games and sports. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/the-first-turning-point-in-schopenhauers-biography/