David Bather Woods, "Arthur Schopenhauer: The Life and Thought of Philosophy's Greatest Pessimist" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

In this episode of New Books Network, host Morteza Hadizadeh interviews Dr. David Bather Woods about his 2025 biography, *Arthur Schopenhauer: The Life and Thought of Philosophy's Greatest Pessimist*, published by the University of Chicago Press. Woods, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, shares how Schopenhauer’s accessible yet profound philosophy captivated him from adolescence and inspired a lifelong scholarly engagement. The book presents a thematic, rather than strictly chronological, biography, exploring Schopenhauer’s ideas on compassion, solitude, suicide, boredom, madness, sexuality, gender, and justice through the lens of lived experience. Woods argues that Schopenhauer’s pessimism is not nihilistic but is instead tempered by a radical ethics of compassion, which transcends personal likability and offers a moral framework for enduring human suffering. The conversation reveals Schopenhauer as a complex figure—both deeply flawed in his views on women and race, yet surprisingly progressive in his advocacy for animal rights, critique of solitary confinement, and early recognition of the psychological roots of madness. Woods also highlights Schopenhauer’s unexpected influence on figures like Nietzsche, Freud, Borges, and Beckett, and discusses how photography helped cement his iconic, grizzled image. Ultimately, the episode positions Schopenhauer not as a mere doomsayer, but as a philosopher whose insights into suffering, moral responsibility, and the power of compassion remain urgently relevant in today’s fractured world.