Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T04:02:07.468Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter II - What One Is

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2022

Sabine Roehr
Affiliation:
New Jersey City University
Christopher Janaway
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
Get access

Summary

That this contributes much more to a person's happinessthan what he has, orwhat he represents, wehave already recognized in general. All depends onwhat someone is and, accordingly, has in himself;for his individuality accompanies him at all timesand in all places; it colours all that heexperiences. In and through everything he initiallyenjoys only himself; this is true of the bodily, butmuch more of the intellectual pleasures. Hence theEnglish ‘to enjoy one's self’ is a very fittingexpression, with which, for example, we say ‘heenjoys himself at Paris’, thus not ‘he enjoysParis’, but ‘he enjoys himself in Paris’. – However, if theindividual character is badly constituted, allpleasures are like delicious wines in a mouth fullof bile. Accordingly, in good times and bad times,leaving aside great calamities, it is less importantwhat befalls us in life than how we feel about it,hence what is the nature and the degree of ourreceptivity in every respect. What someone is andhas within himself, in short, personality and itsworth, is the only thing that immediately counts forhis happiness and well-being. Everything else ismediate; consequently, its effects can befrustrated, but those of personality never. For thatreason, envy directed towards personal merits is themost unforgiving, as it is also the most carefullyconcealed. Moreover, the constitution ofconsciousness alone is persistent and enduring, andindividuality acts constantly and incessantly, moreor less at every moment; everything else only actsfrom time to time, occasionally, temporarily, and isalso subject to reversal and transformation. HenceAristotle says: ‘Nature is permanent, but wealth isnot.’ 344 Because of this we bear a misfortune thathas befallen us entirely from the outside with morecomposure than one that is self-inflicted; for fatecan change, but one's own nature never.

Type
Chapter
Information
Schopenhauer: Parerga and Paralipomena
Short Philosophical Essays
, pp. 282 - 302
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×