Schopenhauer’s biography (2 of 5): the path to the theory of the will

I regard his university years in Berlin as crucial in shaping the extraordinary self-reliance of Arthur #schopenhauer (1788-1860). He had just turned sixteen when he transferred to the University of Berlin and immersed himself in the writings of Immanuel Kant. Most sixteen-year old university students feel intimidated or at least impressed by professors. The large gap in experience, #wisdom and authority creates an atmosphere of blind respect; it normally takes years for students to shape their own ideas, and dare contradict or criticise their professors. Schopenhauer walked the path from admiration to criticism of his professors at an amazing speed. At the beginning, he felt fascinated by Kant’s abstruse ideas (”transcendental idealism”) about #metaphysics and epistemology, but it didn’t take long for Schopenhauer to poke holes in Kant’s philosophy. As a student at the University of Berlin, Schopenhauer went to #philosophy lectures given by Johann Gottlieb #fichte (1762-1814) focusing on the metaphysical ego of the German people. Fichte’s lectures were extremely popular, but Schopenhauer found them nonsensical. He viewed Fichte’s arguments for the existence of a metaphysical German ego as inventions lacking evidence and consistency. In a word, Schopenhauer considered Fichte’s ideas worthless. In contrast to his former quiet life at the Gymnasium and at the University of Göttingen, Schopenhauer had an active social life in Berlin. He attended a large number of lectures, not only in philosophy, and participated in seminars and debates. His transfer from University of Göttingen to the University of Berlin meant that he had definitively quit medicine to focus on philosophy. He had convinced his mother to continue her financial support, but she was unhappy with the situation. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/schopenhauers-biography-the-path-to-the-theory-of-the-will/