Arthur Schopenhauer

This book is a translation of David Asher’s text New Material by Schopenhauer and about Schopenhauer. Readers who are interested in Schopenhauer the man (and his philosophy) can see, from the 24 letters written to David Asher, clear evidence of the philosopher’s struggle to gain recognition in a Germany where Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel – and their disciples – were the dominant forces. The letters show Schopenhauer, after 30 years of being ignored by the universities in Germany, coming into his own. He is enormously appreciative of the dedicated service of Asher, who seeks out and relays to him all that he can find about the resonance of his work in Germany and abroad.Asher himself, as a Jew, was largely ignored after Schopenhauer’s death. In the book by Lindner and Frauenstädt, Schopenhauer: By him and about him, Asher was dismissively referred to as the “little apostle”, whereas in fact he was the main “apostle”.Apart from the letters he received from Schopenhauer, Asher also includes the essay he published about Schopenhauer’s theory of music, along with a musicologist’s sober assessment of its value. Another essay on the Jewish thinker Salomon Ibn-Gebirol indicates Asher’s conviction that Schopenhauer’s thought is not radically removed from that of Judaism (of a particular kind). A further essay – on individual character – indicates the affinity of Schopenhauer’s thought to that of Kant.The final section of the book gathers material that indicates the reception of Schopenhauer’s philosophy in France, England and Germany.