ABSTRACT
Schopenhauer's attitude toward Spinoza is anything but simple. On the one hand, in numerous passages in his writings, Schopenhauer expresses clear admiration both of Spinoza, the person, and of his philosophy. Schopenhauer's endorsement of key Spinozistic doctrines, such as monism and perhaps also the critique rejection of free will, has led some scholars to describe Schopenhauer's monism of the will as nothing but a “transformation of Spinoza's abstract monism,” while others have argued that “there is more Spinozism than Kantianism in Schopenhauer's system.” But on the other hand, many of Schopenhauer's notes on Spinoza smack of deep and gross racist hatred; in the marginalia on Spinoza's books in Schopenhauer's personal library, we find frequently the note: “Ecce Judaeus,” and when Schopenhauer argues that Spinoza could not break from the Jews, he adds: “a vessel retains the smell of what used to fill it.” This chapter concentrates on two central issues in the Schopenhauer-Spinoza Encounter: animal rights (Part I) and evil (Part II).
