Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher.  He is best known for his 1818 work “The World as Will and Representation”, which characterizes the phenomenal world as the product of a blind and insatiable noumenal will. Building on the transcendental idealism of Immanuel Kant, Schopenhauer developed an atheistic lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. a metaphysical and ethical system that rejected the contemporaneous ideas of German idealism. He was among the first thinkers in Western philosophy to share and affirm significant tenets of Indian philosophy, such as asceticism ( denial of the self, and the notion of the world-as-appearance). His work has been described as an exemplary manifestation of philosophical pessimism.

Though his work failed to garner substantial attention during his lifetime, Schopenhauer had a posthumous impact across various disciplines, including philosophy, literature, and science. His writings on aesthetics, morality, and psychology have influenced many thinkers and artists.

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In the picture from wikipedia.org – Schopenhauer in 1815. Portrait by Ludwig Sigismund Ruhl