Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer, (1788-1860). German philosopher. He began to study medicine, but transferred to philosophy and took a PhD in 1813. Having worked with Goethe on his theory of colours, he made his name with The World as Will and Idea (1819), in which he set out his pessimistic antirational philosophy. Over-shadowed in his own day by Hegel, Schopenhauer lectured for a time but retired to Frankfurt in 1833 and spent the rest of his life as a recluse.