On Thinking for Oneself
{"WorkMasterId":5033,"WpPageId":243592,"ParentWpPageId":189627,"Slug":"on-thinking-for-oneself","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/arthur-schopenhauer/on-thinking-for-oneself/","RelativeUrl":"theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/arthur-schopenhauer/on-thinking-for-oneself/","HasFullText":true,"RawHtmlLength":97228,"CleanHtmlLength":39887,"Kicker":"Philosophy Work","Title":"On Thinking for Oneself","Deck":"Independent thinking requires direct reflection instead of passive accumulation of borrowed views.","BackLink":{"Text":"Back to Arthur Schopenhauer","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/arthur-schopenhauer/"},"AuthorCard":{"Label":"Author","Title":"Arthur Schopenhauer","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/arthur-schopenhauer/","MediaHref":"","ImageSrc":"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/arthur-schopenhauer-01-standard-portrait.jpg","ImageAlt":"Arthur Schopenhauer Portrait","FilterTerra":"Western Europe","ClickText":"Arthur Schopenhauer","ClickHref":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/arthur-schopenhauer/","Copies":["1788 CE – 1860 CE","Danzig (now Gdansk)","German philosopher from Danzig whose account of representation, blind will, pessimistic metaphysics, compassion ethics, aesthetics, and music reshaped nineteenth-century and modern philosophy."]},"ContextCards":[{"Label":"Period","Key":"Period:4","Title":"Modern History","DateText":"1800 CE – 1944 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-modern-history/"},{"Label":"Era","Key":"Era:11","Title":"Long 19th Century","DateText":"1870 CE – 1913 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-modern-history/philosophers-of-the-long-19th-century/"},{"Label":"Composition","Title":"1851 CE","Url":"","DateText":""}],"DateNote":"1851 publication year inside Parerga and Paralipomena; source order is followed within the same publication year.","GeoCards":[{"Label":"Region","Key":"Region:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita","Key":"TerraAvita:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita Region","Key":"TerraAvitaRegion:3"},{"Label":"Modern Country","Key":"Country:POL:1"}],"OriginalTitle":"Selbstdenken","Language":"German","DisciplineCards":[{"Label":"Primary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:epistemology"},{"Label":"Secondary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:logic"}],"Tradition":"German post-Kantian philosophy, pessimism, aesthetics, and ethics","FullText":{"Title":"Full Text","Copy":"Full text from Wikisource: On Thinking for Oneself .","Url":"","Label":"","Kicker":"","Cards":[]},"CoreThesis":["Independent thinking requires direct reflection instead of passive accumulation of borrowed views."],"Classification":{"AlternateTitles":"Thinking for Oneself","KeyConcepts":"self-thinking; independence; reading; judgment; reflection; originality","Methodology":"Post-Kantian transcendental analysis, metaphysical system-building, aphoristic essay, historical criticism, comparative religion, and psychological observation.","Structure":"Published book, prize essay, edition-level work, posthumous manuscript work, translation/adaptation, or self-contained Parerga and Paralipomena essay accepted under the Max Published policy."},"Arguments":["Connects representation, will, causality, suffering, art, compassion, character, knowledge, and cultural criticism to Schopenhauer\u0027s wider philosophical system."],"Influence":{"InfluencedBy":"Immanuel Kant, Plato, the Upanishads, Buddhism, Goethe, Spinoza, and early modern metaphysics.","InfluenceOn":""},"Significance":["Accepted as part of the user-approved Arthur Schopenhauer Max Published corpus.","Used in metaphysics, aesthetics, music theory, ethics, pessimism, philosophy of mind, comparative philosophy, and critiques of modern optimism."],"EvidenceNote":["Accepted under the user-selected Max Published policy as a self-contained essay from Parerga and Paralipomena."],"MainSections":[{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Versions","BodyHtml":"\u003cdiv class=\"dz-philo__full-version-grid\"\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-version-card\"\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-provider\"\u003eWikisource\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ch3 class=\"dz-philo__full-version-title\"\u003eOn Thinking for Oneself\u003c/h3\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-meta\"\u003eSectionText · LinkOnlyReady\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ca class=\"dz-philo__full-version-link\" href=\"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Literature/On_Thinking_for_Oneself\"\u003eOpen full version\u003c/a\u003e\n \u003c/article\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e"},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Core Thesis","Paragraphs":["Independent thinking requires direct reflection instead of passive accumulation of borrowed views."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Classification","Fields":[{"Label":"Alternate Titles","Value":"Thinking for Oneself"},{"Label":"Key Concepts","Value":"self-thinking; independence; reading; judgment; reflection; originality"},{"Label":"Methodology","Value":"Post-Kantian transcendental analysis, metaphysical system-building, aphoristic essay, historical criticism, comparative religion, and psychological observation."},{"Label":"Structure","Value":"Published book, prize essay, edition-level work, posthumous manuscript work, translation/adaptation, or self-contained Parerga and Paralipomena essay accepted under the Max Published policy."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Arguments","Paragraphs":["Connects representation, will, causality, suffering, art, compassion, character, knowledge, and cultural criticism to Schopenhauer\u0027s wider philosophical system."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Influence","Fields":[{"Label":"Influenced By","Value":"Immanuel Kant, Plato, the Upanishads, Buddhism, Goethe, Spinoza, and early modern metaphysics."},{"Label":"Influence On","Value":"Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, Thomas Mann, Wittgenstein, Mainlander, modern pessimism, aesthetics, psychology, and comparative philosophy."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Significance","Paragraphs":["Accepted as part of the user-approved Arthur Schopenhauer Max Published corpus.","Used in metaphysics, aesthetics, music theory, ethics, pessimism, philosophy of mind, comparative philosophy, and critiques of modern optimism."]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Evidence Note","Paragraphs":["Accepted under the user-selected Max Published policy as a self-contained essay from Parerga and Paralipomena."]},{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Text","BodyHtml":"\u003cp class=\"dz-philo__section-copy dz-philo__full-text-source\"\u003eFull text from \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Literature/On_Thinking_for_Oneself\"\u003eWikisource: On Thinking for Oneself\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-text-body\"\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e \n\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/79\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eON THINKING FOR ONESELF.\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u0026#160;\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA library\u003c/span\u003e may be very large; but if it is in disorder, it is not so useful as one that is small but well arranged. In the same way, a man may have a great mass of knowledge, but if he has not worked it up by thinking it over for himself, it has much less value than a far smaller amount which he has thoroughly pondered. For it is only when a man looks at his knowledge from all sides, and combines the things he knows by comparing truth with truth, that he obtains a complete hold over it and gets it into his power. A man cannot turn over anything in his mind unless he knows it; he should, therefore, learn something; but it is only when he has turned it over that he can be said to know it.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReading and learning are things that anyone can do of his own free will; but not so \u003ci\u003ethinking\u003c/i\u003e. Thinking must be kindled, like a fire by a draught; it must be sustained by some interest in the matter in hand. This interest may be of purely objective kind, or merely subjective. The latter comes into play only in things that concern us personally. Objective interest is confined to heads that think by nature; to whom thinking is as natural as breathing; and they are very rare. This is why most men of learning show so little of it.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is incredible what a different effect is produced upon the mind by thinking for oneself, as compared\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/80\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003ewith reading. It carries on and\nintensifies that original difference in the nature of two minds which\nleads the one to think and the other to read. What I mean is that\nreading forces alien thoughts upon the mind—thoughts which are as\nforeign to the drift and temper in which it may be for the moment, as\nthe seal is to the wax on which it stamps its imprint. The mind is\nthus entirely under compulsion from without; it is driven to think\nthis or that, though for the moment it may not have the slightest\nimpulse or inclination to do so.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut when a man thinks for himself, he follows the impulse of his\nown mind, which is determined for him at the time, either by his\nenvironment or some particular recollection. The visible world of\na man\u0027s surroundings does not, as reading does, impress a \u003ci\u003esingle\u003c/i\u003e\ndefinite thought upon his mind, but merely gives the matter and\noccasion which lead him to think what is appropriate to his nature and\npresent temper. So it is, that much reading deprives the mind of all\nelasticity; it is like keeping a spring continually under pressure.\nThe safest way of having no thoughts of one\u0027s own is to take up a book\nevery moment one has nothing else to do. It is this practice which\nexplains why erudition makes most men more stupid and silly than they\nare by nature, and prevents their writings obtaining any measure of\nsuccess. They remain, in Pope\u0027s words:\n\u003c/p\u003e\n \n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFor ever reading, never to be read!\u003c/i\u003e \n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eMen of learning are those who have done their\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/81\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003ereading in the pages of\na book. Thinkers and men of genius are those who have gone straight\nto the book of Nature; it is they who have enlightened the world and\ncarried humanity further on its way. If a man\u0027s thoughts are to have\ntruth and life in them, they must, after all, be his own fundamental\nthoughts; for these are the only ones that he can fully and wholly\nunderstand. To read another\u0027s thoughts is like taking the leavings of\na meal to which we have not been invited, or putting on the clothes\nwhich some unknown visitor has laid aside. The thought we read\nis related to the thought which springs up in ourselves, as the\nfossil-impress of some prehistoric plant to a plant as it buds forth\nin spring-time.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReading is nothing more than a substitute for thought of one\u0027s own. It\nmeans putting the mind into leading-strings. The multitude of books\nserves only to show how many false paths there are, and how widely\nastray a man may wander if he follows any of them. But he who\nis guided by his genius, he who thinks for himself, who thinks\nspontaneously and exactly, possesses the only compass by which he can\nsteer aright. A man should read only when his own thoughts stagnate\nat their source, which will happen often enough even with the best of\nminds. On the other hand, to take up a book for the purpose of scaring\naway one\u0027s own original thoughts is sin against the Holy Spirit. It is\nlike running away from Nature to look at a museum of dried plants or\ngaze at a landscape in copperplate.\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/82\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003eA man may have discovered some portion of truth or wisdom, after\nspending a great deal of time and trouble in thinking it over for\nhimself and adding thought to thought; and it may sometimes happen\nthat he could have found it all ready to hand in a book and spared\nhimself the trouble. But even so, it is a hundred times more valuable\nif he has acquired it by thinking it out for himself. For it is only\nwhen we gain our knowledge in this way that it enters as an integral\npart, a living member, into the whole system of our thought; that it\nstands in complete and firm relation with what we know; that it is\nunderstood with all that underlies it and follows from it; that it\nwears the color, the precise shade, the distinguishing mark, of our\nown way of thinking; that it comes exactly at the right time, just\nas we felt the necessity for it; that it stands fast and cannot be\nforgotten. This is the perfect application, nay, the interpretation,\nof Goethe\u0027s advice to earn our inheritance for ourselves so that we\nmay really possess it:—\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"mw-deduplicated-inline-style\" href=\"mw-data:TemplateStyles:r15431465\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"mw-deduplicated-inline-style\" href=\"mw-data:TemplateStyles:r15431454\" /\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWas due ererbt von deinen Välern hast,\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eErwirb es, um es zu besitzen.\u003c/i\u003e \n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe man who thinks for himself, forms his own opinions and learns the\nauthorities for them only later on, when they serve but to strengthen\nhis belief in them and in himself. But the book-philosopher starts\nfrom the authorities. He reads other people\u0027s books, collects their\nopinions, and so forms a whole for himself, which resembles an\nautomaton made up of anything but flesh and blood. Contrarily, he who\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/83\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003ethinks for himself creates a work like a living man as made by Nature.\nFor the work comes into being as a man does; the thinking mind is\nimpregnated from without, and it then forms and bears its child.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTruth that has been merely learned is like an artificial limb, a false\ntooth, a waxen nose; at best, like a nose made out of another\u0027s flesh;\nit adheres to us only because it is put on. But truth acquired by\nthinking of our own is like a natural limb; it alone really belongs\nto us. This is the fundamental difference between the thinker and the\nmere man of learning. The intellectual attainments of a man who thinks\nfor himself resemble a fine painting, where the light and shade are\ncorrect, the tone sustained, the color perfectly harmonized; it is\ntrue to life. On the other hand, the intellectual attainments of the\nmere man of learning are like a large palette, full of all sorts of\ncolors, which at most are systematically arranged, but devoid of\nharmony, connection and meaning.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReading is thinking with some one else\u0027s head instead of one\u0027s own. To\nthink with one\u0027s own head is always to aim at developing a coherent\nwhole—a system, even though it be not a strictly complete one; and\nnothing hinders this so much as too strong a current of others\u0027\nthoughts, such as comes of continual reading. These thoughts,\nspringing every one of them from different minds, belonging to\ndifferent systems, and tinged with different colors, never of\nthemselves flow together into an intellectual whole; they never form a\nunity of knowledge, or insight, or conviction; but, rather, fill\nthe head with a Babylonian confusion of tongues. The mind that is\nover-loaded\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/84\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003ewith alien thought is thus deprived of all clear insight,\nand is well-nigh disorganized. This is a state of things observable\nin many men of learning; and it makes them inferior in sound sense,\ncorrect judgment and practical tact, to many illiterate persons,\nwho, after obtaining a little knowledge from without, by means of\nexperience, intercourse with others, and a small amount of reading,\nhave always subordinated it to, and embodied it with, their own\nthought.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe really scientific \u003ci\u003ethinker\u003c/i\u003e does the same thing as these\nilliterate persons, but on a larger scale. Although he has need\nof much knowledge, and so must read a great deal, his mind is\nnevertheless strong enough to master it all, to assimilate and\nincorporate it with the system of his thoughts, and so to make it\nfit in with the organic unity of his insight, which, though vast, is\nalways growing. And in the process, his own thought, like the bass in\nan organ, always dominates everything and is never drowned by other\ntones, as happens with minds which are full of mere antiquarian lore;\nwhere shreds of music, as it were, in every key, mingle confusedly,\nand no fundamental note is heard at all.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThose who have spent their lives in reading, and taken their wisdom\nfrom books, are like people who have obtained precise information\nabout a country from the descriptions of many travellers. Such\npeople can tell a great deal about it; but, after all, they have no\nconnected, clear, and profound knowledge of its real condition. But\nthose who have spent their lives in thinking, resemble the travellers\nthemselves;\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/85\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003ethey alone really know what they are talking about; they\nare acquainted with the actual state of affairs, and are quite at home\nin the subject.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe thinker stands in the same relation to the ordinary\nbook-philosopher as an eye-witness does to the historian; he speaks\nfrom direct knowledge of his own. That is why all those who think\nfor themselves come, at bottom, to much the same conclusion. The\ndifferences they present are due to their different points of view;\nand when these do not affect the matter, they all speak alike. They\nmerely express the result of their own objective perception of things.\nThere are many passages in my works which I have given to the public\nonly after some hesitation, because of their paradoxical nature; and\nafterwards I have experienced a pleasant surprise in finding the same\nopinion recorded in the works of great men who lived long ago.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book-philosopher merely reports what one person has said and\nanother meant, or the objections raised by a third, and so on. He\ncompares different opinions, ponders, criticises, and tries to get at\nthe truth of the matter; herein on a par with the critical historian.\nFor instance, he will set out to inquire whether Leibnitz was not for\nsome time a follower of Spinoza, and questions of a like nature. The\ncurious student of such matters may find conspicuous examples of what\nI mean in Herbart\u0027s \u003ci\u003eAnalytical Elucidation of Morality and Natural Right\u003c/i\u003e, and in the same author\u0027s \u003ci\u003eLetters on Freedom\u003c/i\u003e. Surprise may\nbe felt that a man of the kind should put himself to so much trouble;\nfor, on the face of it, if he would only examine the\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/86\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003ematter for\nhimself, he would speedily attain his object by the exercise of a\nlittle thought. But there is a small difficulty in the way. It does\nnot depend upon his own will. A man can always sit down and read, but\nnot—think. It is with thoughts as with men; they cannot always be\nsummoned at pleasure; we must wait for them to come. Thought about a\nsubject must appear of itself, by a happy and harmonious combination\nof external stimulus with mental temper and attention; and it is just\nthat which never seems to come to these people.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis truth may be illustrated by what happens in the case of matters\naffecting our own personal interest. When it is necessary to come to\nsome resolution in a matter of that kind, we cannot well sit down at\nany given moment and think over the merits of the case and make up our\nmind; for, if we try to do so, we often find ourselves unable, at that\nparticular moment, to keep our mind fixed upon the subject; it wanders\noff to other things. Aversion to the matter in question is sometimes\nto blame for this. In such a case we should not use force, but wait\nfor the proper frame of mind to come of itself. It often comes\nunexpectedly and returns again and again; and the variety of temper in\nwhich we approach it at different moments puts the matter always in a\nfresh light. It is this long process which is understood by the term\n\u003ci\u003ea ripe resolution.\u003c/i\u003e For the work of coming to a resolution must be\ndistributed; and in the process much that is overlooked at one moment\noccurs to us at another; and the repugnance vanishes when we find, as\nwe usually do, on a closer in\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/87\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003espection, that things are not so bad as they seemed.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis rule applies to the life of the intellect as well as to matters\nof practice. A man must wait for the right moment. Not even the\ngreatest mind is capable of thinking for itself at all times. Hence a\ngreat mind does well to spend its leisure in reading, which, as I have\nsaid, is a substitute for thought; it brings stuff to the mind by\nletting another person do the thinking; although that is always done\nin a manner not our own. Therefore, a man should not read too much, in\norder that his mind may not become accustomed to the substitute and\nthereby forget the reality; that it may not form the habit of walking\nin well-worn paths; nor by following an alien course of thought grow a\nstranger to its own. Least of all should a man quite withdraw his gaze\nfrom the real world for the mere sake of reading; as the impulse and\nthe temper which prompt to thought of one\u0027s own come far oftener from\nthe world of reality than from the world of books. The real life that\na man sees before him is the natural subject of thought; and in its\nstrength as the primary element of existence, it can more easily than\nanything else rouse and influence the thinking mind.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter these considerations, it will not be matter for surprise that\na man who thinks for himself can easily be distinguished from the\nbook-philosopher by the very way in which he talks, by his marked\nearnestness, and the originality, directness, and personal conviction\nthat stamp all his thoughts and expressions. The book-philosopher, on\nthe other hand, lets it be\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/88\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003eseen that everything he has is second-hand;\nthat his ideas are like the number and trash of an old furniture-shop,\ncollected together from all quarters. Mentally, he is dull and\npointless—a copy of a copy. His literary style is made up of\nconventional, nay, vulgar phrases, and terms that happen to be\ncurrent; in this respect much like a small State where all the money\nthat circulates is foreign, because it has no coinage of its own.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMere experience can as little as reading supply the place of thought.\nIt stands to thinking in the same relation in which eating stands\nto digestion and assimilation. When experience boasts that to its\ndiscoveries alone is due the advancement of the human race, it is as\nthough the mouth were to claim the whole credit of maintaining the\nbody in health.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe works of all truly capable minds are distinguished by a character\nof \u003ci\u003edecision\u003c/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003edefiniteness\u003c/i\u003e, which means they are clear and free\nfrom obscurity. A truly capable mind always knows definitely and\nclearly what it is that it wants to express, whether its medium is\nprose, verse, or music. Other minds are not decisive and not definite;\nand by this they may be known for what they are.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe characteristic sign of a mind of the highest order is that it\nalways judges at first hand. Everything it advances is the result of\nthinking for itself; and this is everywhere evident by the way in\nwhich it gives its thoughts utterance. Such a mind is like a Prince.\nIn the realm of intellect its authority is imperial, whereas the\nauthority of minds of a lower order is delegated only; as may be seen in\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/89\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003etheir style, which has no independent stamp of its own.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery one who really thinks for himself is so far like a monarch.\nHis position is undelegated and supreme. His judgments, like royal\ndecrees, spring from his own sovereign power and proceed directly from\nhimself. He acknowledges authority as little as a monarch admits a\ncommand; he subscribes to nothing but what he has himself authorized.\nThe multitude of common minds, laboring under all sorts of current\nopinions, authorities, prejudices, is like the people, which silently\nobeys the law and accepts orders from above.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThose who are so zealous and eager to settle debated questions by\nciting authorities, are really glad when they are able to put the\nunderstanding and the insight of others into the field in place of\ntheir own, which are wanting. Their number is legion. For, as\nSeneca says, there is no man but prefers belief to the exercise\nof judgment—\u003ci\u003eunusquisque mavult credere quam judicare\u003c/i\u003e. In their\ncontroversies such people make a promiscuous use of the weapon of\nauthority, and strike out at one another with it. If any one chances\nto become involved in such a contest, he will do well not to try\nreason and argument as a mode of defence; for against a weapon of that\nkind these people are like Siegfrieds, with a skin of horn, and dipped\nin the flood of incapacity for thinking and judging. They will meet\nhis attack by bringing up their authorities as a way of abashing\nhim—\u003ci\u003eargumentum ad verecundiam\u003c/i\u003e, and then cry out that they have won\nthe battle.\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/90\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003eIn the real world, be it never so fair, favorable and pleasant,\nwe always live subject to the law of gravity which we have to\nbe constantly overcoming. But in the world of intellect we are\ndisembodied spirits, held in bondage to no such law, and free from\npenury and distress. Thus it is that there exists no happiness on\nearth like that which, at the auspicious moment, a fine and fruitful\nmind finds in itself.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe presence of a thought is like the presence of a woman we love. We\nfancy we shall never forget the thought nor become indifferent to the\ndear one. But out of sight, out of mind! The finest thought runs the\nrisk of being irrevocably forgotten if we do not write it down, and\nthe darling of being deserted if we do not marry her.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere are plenty of thoughts which are valuable to the man who thinks\nthem; but only few of them which have enough strength to produce\nrepercussive or reflect action—I mean, to win the reader\u0027s sympathy\nafter they have been put on paper.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut still it must not be forgotten that a true value attaches only\nto what a man has thought in the first instance \u003ci\u003efor his own case\u003c/i\u003e.\nThinkers may be classed according as they think chiefly for their own\ncase or for that of others. The former are the genuine independent\nthinkers; they really think and are really independent; they are the\ntrue \u003ci\u003ephilosophers\u003c/i\u003e; they alone are in earnest. The pleasure and the\nhappiness of their existence consists in thinking. The others are the\n\u003ci\u003esophists\u003c/i\u003e; they want to seem that which they are not, and seek their\nhappiness in what they hope to get from the world. They are in earnest\nabout nothing\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/91\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003eelse. To which of these two classes a man belongs may be\nseen by his whole style and manner. Lichtenberg is an example for the\nformer class; Herder, there can be no doubt, belongs to the second.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen one considers how vast and how close to us is \u003ci\u003ethe problem of existence\u003c/i\u003e—this equivocal, tortured, fleeting, dream-like existence\nof ours—so vast and so close that a man no sooner discovers it than\nit overshadows and obscures all other problems and aims; and when\none sees how all men, with few and rare exceptions, have no clear\nconsciousness of the problem, nay, seem to be quite unaware of its\npresence, but busy themselves with everything rather than with this,\nand live on, taking no thought but for the passing day and the hardly\nlonger span of their own personal future, either expressly discarding\nthe problem or else over-ready to come to terms with it by adopting\nsome system of popular metaphysics and letting it satisfy them; when,\nI say, one takes all this to heart, one may come to the opinion that\nman may be said to be \u003ci\u003ea thinking being\u003c/i\u003e only in a very remote\nsense, and henceforth feel no special surprise at any trait of human\nthoughtlessness or folly; but know, rather, that the normal man\u0027s\nintellectual range of vision does indeed extend beyond that of the\nbrute, whose whole existence is, as it were, a continual present,\nwith no consciousness of the past or the future, but not such an\nimmeasurable distance as is generally supposed.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is, in fact, corroborated by the way in which most men converse;\nwhere their thoughts are found to be chopped up fine, like chaff, so\u0026#32;\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan title=\"Page:The\u0026#95;Art\u0026#95;of\u0026#95;Literature\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;Schopenhauer\u0026#95;-\u0026#95;1897.djvu/92\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#8203;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003ethat for them to spin out a discourse of any length is impossible.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf this world were peopled by really thinking beings, it could not be\nthat noise of every kind would be allowed such generous limits, as is\nthe case with the most horrible and at the same time aimless form of\nit. If Nature had meant man to think, she would not have given him\nears; or, at any rate, she would have furnished them with airtight\nflaps, such as are the enviable possession of the bat. But, in truth,\nman is a poor animal like the rest, and his powers are meant only to\nmaintain him in the struggle for existence; so he must need keep his\nears always open, to announce of themselves, by night as by day, the\napproach of the pursuer.\u0026#32;\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n \u003chr /\u003e\n \u003c/article\u003e"}],"SectionSequence":["Back Link","Work Title","Deck","Author","Period","Era","Composition","Date Note","Region","Terra Avita","Terra Avita Region","Modern Country","Original Title","Language","Primary Discipline","Secondary Discipline","Tradition","Full Versions","Core Thesis","Classification","Arguments","Influence","Significance","Evidence Note","Full Text"],"Counts":{"ContextCards":3,"GeoCards":4,"DisciplineCards":2,"Links":11,"Sections":25,"Styles":3,"Scripts":1}}