When Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) studied Indian or Hindu philosophy, he didn’t restrict himself to the foundational texts. He read the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita but those lack the subtle interpretations made by Hindu thinkers across the centuries. Schopenhauer adopted early in his career some Hindu tenets and conveyed them, in his own words, in…

The influence of Indian religion on Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1960) falls within a growing interest of Western thinkers in Eastern culture. In the field of art, such a tendency has been named “Orientalism” and is observable particularly amongst French painters. In the period 1810-1820, Schopenhauer became acquainted with Indian philosophy by reading its foundational texts. I…