Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'The Nature of Mathematical Knowledge' and 'Parerga and Paralipomena'

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these texts

display all the ideas for this combination of texts


2 ideas

23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom
Boredom is only felt by those clever enough to need activity [Schopenhauer]
     Full Idea: Only in the cleverest animals such as dogs and apes does the need for activity, and with that boredom, make itself felt.
     From: Arthur Schopenhauer (Parerga and Paralipomena [1851], III:50)
     A reaction: But it is much more frequently young creatures, of almost any kind, that seek constant activity, and get continually restless. The most active adults need not be the cleverest.
Human life is a mistake, shown by boredom, which is direct awareness of the fact [Schopenhauer]
     Full Idea: Human life must be some kind of mistake. ...Boredom is a direct proof that existence is in itself valueless, for boredom is nothing other than the sensation of the emptiness of existence.
     From: Arthur Schopenhauer (Parerga and Paralipomena [1851], XI:146)
     A reaction: I think it is a good advertisement for existentialism that it makes something more out of boredom than Schopenhauer does.