Philosophy Series Sketch No. 05: Arthur Schopenhauer

This work is done in HB and pencil on A5 paper.

This is the final sketch of my Philosophy Series. He is my favorite philosopher and one of the very few western thinkers who understood and weaved Eastern philosophy into his works. He was an exponent of Vedas and Upanishads. Also, I think his aphorisms are really good. He was a pure vegetarian and an animal lover. The name of pet poodle was ‘Atma’ a Sanskrit word for ‘Soul’.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 –1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work The World as Will and Representation, wherein he characterizes the phenomenal world as the product of a blind and insatiable metaphysical will. Building on the transcendental idealism of Immanuel Kant, Schopenhauer developed an atheistic metaphysical and ethical system that rejected the contemporaneous ideas of German idealism.

His work has been described as an exemplary manifestation of philosophical pessimism. Though his work failed to garner substantial attention during his lifetime, Schopenhauer has had a posthumous impact across various disciplines, including philosophy, literature, and science. His writing on aesthetics, morality, and psychology have influenced many thinkers and artists. Schopenhauer saw his philosophy as a continuation of that of Kant, and used the results of his epistemological investigations, that is, transcendental idealism, as starting point for his own. As a consequence of his monistic philosophy, Schopenhauer was very concerned about the welfare of animals. For him, all individual animals, including humans, are essentially the same, being phenomenal manifestations of the one underlying Will. The word "will" designated, for him, force, power, impulse, energy, and desire; it is the closest word we have that can signify both the real essence of all external things and also our own direct, inner experience. For this reason, he claimed that a good person would have sympathy for animals, who are our fellow sufferers.

Schopenhauer died peacefully on September 21, 1860, in his apartment in Frankfurt at Schöne Aussicht 16. He was 72.

Philosophy Series Sketch No. 04 : Baruch Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Sephardi origin. One of the early thinkers of the Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism including modern conceptions of the self and the universe. He came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy. He was born a Jew but at 23, was expelled from his community and shunned by his family for his philosophy and revolutionary ideas. He was a trained lens maker and polisher and earned his income from this craft.Spinoza's magnum opus, 'The Ethics' was published posthumously in the year of his death. The work opposed Descartes' philosophy of mind–body dualism, and earned Spinoza recognition as one of Western philosophy's most important thinkers. Spinoza argues that the way to 'blessedness' or 'salvation' for each person involves an expansion of the mind towards an intuitive understanding of God, of the whole of nature and its laws. In other words, philosophy for Spinoza is like a spiritual practice, whose goal is happiness and liberation.

Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and scholar of Latin and Greek whose work has exerted a profound influence on modern intellectual history.

In the Western philosophy tradition, Nietzsche's writings have been described as the unique case of free revolutionary thought, that is,revolutionary in its structure and problems, although not tied to any revolutionary project.

This work is done in HB, 3B and 10B pencils on 75 gsm A4 paper.

Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was an eminent British philosopher and is considered one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century. He was both a brilliant mathematician, a logician and a moralist. He popularized the philosophy and was a left-wing supporter. Russell was also a prolific writer. Medium- HB and 3B pencils

Deep Silhouettes

Clicked this one rainy afternoon. This photographs speaks to me on many levels. It can indicate distance within relationships, when you cannot leave but retire in your own corners. It can also indicate that you are comfortable being on the same plane and some distance is keeping things fine. It can also depict that you find you are upon yourself like everyone else around you; alone but not lonely. Or that you have found your comfortable space away from the web of life. Anyway, I love this click!

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (1888-1975)

He was a noted educationist and philospher. He was the second president and first vice-president of India.