ABSTRACT
The place of Schopenhauer within the philosophical realm of idealism is still up for debate. 1 Of course, we can follow the usual interpretive line and straightforwardly designate him as a transcendental idealist. 2 However, taking into account Schopenhauer’s numerous objections to aspects of Kant’s Critical system, the ways in which he modifies aspects of Kant’s epistemology and other areas, as well as the presumably idiosyncratic manner in which Schopenhauer would understand what it would be to be a Kantian philosopher, we would perhaps do well to take another look. In this paper, I will argue that Schopenhauer’s sympathies lie closer to a Berkeleyan subjective idealism than is usually supposed. This paper can only present the very beginnings of such an argument, but at the very least, it is hoped that the question of the precise nature of Schopenhauer’s idealism will be shown to be worthy of further consideration.
