RIP Dr. Sugrue. You will live on through your teaching .

Sugrue’s attitude towards Schopenhauer seems to match Schopenhauer’s attitude towards life

The older I get the more I agree with Schopenhauer.

“He’s performed the unusual service of sharing his unhappiness with us” I am honored to have access to your linguistic conceptual illustrations.

He had the courage to explore the misery of life, makes no excuses or the need to make people feel positive

When I first encountered Schopenhauer I tought he was a miserable weirdo, an unhappy old fox shouting to the world that life is sour grapes. 10 years later, as I enter my 40s with the fruitless angst of youth behind me, I see where he was coming from. So much of activity in our world arises from wants and lust that seem irresistibly seductive but ultimately fail to reward or fulfill. I do wonder from time to time whether Mother Nature has programmed us to chase futile hopes and mirages just so we will live long enough to reproduce the next generation of fools that will repeat another round of the mad dance.

YES! THERE ARE MORE LECTURES?! ❤️

Schopenhauer's insights are so freeing. It's sort of a rock bottom positioning, "I expected it to be this bad and it is, so all I can do now is laugh!"

I am a great admirer of Sugrue, and love all of his lectures in this series. They are truly wonderful! I must, however, offer a counter position with regard to his approach to Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer is pessimistic, yes, but he is not horrible and scary. Also, I would absolutely recommend to anyone to begin their study of this fascinating and engaging philosopher directly with « The World as Will and Idea . » You will get his passion, erudition, and mastery of philosophy and language in a clear, straightforward way. Why bother starting with anything else? Also, briefly, Schopenhauer concludes profoundly and humanely that compassion is the proper attitude toward the harshness of the world. I think this call for compassion is so meaningful, and is something we would all do well to keep in mind. We all suffer, so let’s have compassion for what others go through.

Schopenhauer spent his afternoons playing music and his evenings going to plays and concerts. Hardly a man wallowing in misery.

I have heard all of the other old lectures and in fact rewarched them so often that I know them a little too well. Being able to listen to a new one is a treat. Thank you very much!

Dr. Sugrue reminds me of one of those professors who speaks so clearly and concisely that I genuinely enjoy going to their classes, even if I have almost no previous interest in the topic. Thank you so much for posting these videos. And please keep uploading more lectures! I genuinely enjoy listening to them.

I tought I was alone and crazy… but these ideas have been there in the human psyche for eons.

A great lecture with humour injected in. Just to mention that I find Schopenhauer's pessimism soothing and comforting. Also: Nietzsche rejected much of Schopenhauer's pessimistic teachings in the late 1800s. Nietzsche considered Schopenhauer a "decadent" - meaning someone in a state of decay. In fact, Nietzsche wanted us to embrace life and say yes to life - quite the opposite of Schopenhauer. Many thanks again for a wonderful and enjoyable lecture, Michael.

So ironic, because in spite of everything, Schopenhauer enjoyed life, especially the arts, including obviously music, the theatre, literature and philosophy (except for Hegel!). He loved the pub. On occasion, he "loved" women. He loved food prepared by someone else, and good conversation. He thought the English were the "most intelligent race." Goethe said he "will out-do all of us," and he was right. Amazing, courageous man, no saint, but very few are. Thank you Michael Sugrue and thank you for keeping on keeping on.

I love Schopenhauer.

Ooh, yes!!! I need to find either a DVD set or a digital repository of all of Dr. Sugrue's lectures so I can watch and re-watch, in order.

My favorite Philosopher.

KZfaq was made for this stuff. Michael I love you man

A beautifully constructed lecture; Thank you, Mr. Sugrue.

Woah, and I thought I had seen all of Sugrue’s lectures, what a treat! 🙏🏼

"It's hard to think anyone more relentlessly pessimistic than Schopenhauer." *Thomas Ligotti entered the chat*

Interesting because as a young man Joseph Campbell changed my life and his favorite philosopher was Schopenhauer

Thank you! I find myself watching these lectures more and more...

Literally this is a part of this moment of my life when I have the chance to consume this content and it helps me with so many things! Like improve my English, professor Sugrue I love this content and I can’t get enough

Sharing his unhappiness with us is always welcome and for a good reasons and especially nowadays.

Thank you for getting us through these soul destroying times, Professor.

Very useful briefing of Schopenhauer's ideas. One missing and very important aspect is his view of animal suffering under human rule.

WOAH I did not know there was more Sugrue lectures he recorded. This is a welcome sight indeed thank you!

These lectures enrich life. Very grateful for this amazing content. As always - Thank you!

Thanks for the lectures man. All the other lectures are in one ear out the other. But i actually remember and am easily able to conceptualize everything you say. It’s a miracle!

This makes my day, thanks for sharing this.

this was incredibly insightful what a beautiful way of thinking of consciousness his thoughts show an inverse vacuum of what it means to be a sentient being

Saw this and knew my day would get better!

Fantastic, was just revisiting Schopenhaur recently, and I had regret that there wasn't a video from Professor Sugrue.

Thank you oh so much for for these uploads, just came across them and I'm very glad I clicked the suggested video. Thank you for your time, effort and good intentions, greetings from Chile

As always, thank you so much, professor!

The tracking might be slightly off, but this is still an incredible lecture. It's witty, insightful and interesting.

Love these lectures! Thanks Professor!

A lecture on Schopenhauer by Prof. Sugrue! Awesome!

What an amazing lecture, which really shouldn't come as a surprise considering Professor Sugrue's track record. I really love how he is able to connect great philosophical thinkers together whilst providing context for how they relate to (and are different from) each other. After watching this I am definitely going to revisit the Freud and Nietzsche lectures again.

What a great communicator!!!

Thank you for being my philosophy lecturer- fabulous and fascinating

Been waiting for this! Send my thanks to Dr Sugrue for uploading this

These are great videos. I wish Bob Solomon was still alive. He produced great lectures with the same video company. I wish they were preserved on youtube in the same way Dr Sugrue has been doing

"We are a bundle of desires and a collection of answers. Our desires never get satisfied and our questions never get answered."

Oh hell yeah, Geistmaster Sugrue back at it. Bless up today

I love these Lectures. Thank you

My whole family met tragedy in 20th century US through no fault of their own. Consequently, my life has been a will to laughter with flat affect.

Wonderful lecture. I'm grateful to you.

A new lecture ☺️What a Pleasant surprise.

This is the greatest lecturer I have ever listened to!

Keep ‘em coming!

The best lecturer I've had the pleasure of listening to, not just on KZfaq, but in my entire lifetime and 25 years of education.

This man is the best teacher I've ever seen.

That was amazing, thank you.

A great instructor on all subjects 👏

Such a generous man! We can't thank you enough for sharing your invaluable lectures, Prof. Sugrue!

It's so beautiful that Schopenhauer was this perfectly sour complement to Hegel. I am reaching enlightenment via Schopenhauer-Hegelian model, reporting back influenced by modern western Hindu-Buddhist gurus. The real 'I' is the Absolute; this egoic self is merely a whirlwind of ... will. ... Hell is confusing the latter for the prior... This lecture is truly pinnacle of reality, thanks so much Sugrue

I find his philosophy so freeing, enjoying the continual state of striving and self improvement. Knowing I will never be contented is OK.

Thank you for the lecture. Schopenhauer is fun :) I will say, as a Buddhist convert, I did cringe a little bit at the slight conflation of ideas regarding the Noble Truths. It is an honest and easy mistake to make, though, especially as one looking from the outside in at Buddhism. The "Eight noble truths" are actually the Four Noble Truths and they are (In a simplified way) 1: Suffering - Life (the Human condition) is suffering and it is defined by both pain and the chronic inability to be satisfied. 2: Desire or Attachment - That suffering arises from human desires and attachments to transient things (For example, the fear of death and aging are born of attachments to life and youthful vitality, respectively) 3: Cessation - That you can be liberated from suffering by limiting or renouncing Desires and Attachments. 4: The Noble Eightfold Path - That you can follow the Noble Eightfold Path (a topic in itself, to summarize: basically being responsible with your life, being mindfully attentive to the present, practicing meditation, and adopting and fostering "right views" about the nature of and your relationship to reality) It should also be noted that it is a bit of a misperception to consider Buddhist practices and teachings as strictly ascetic and hopelessly pessimistic. Buddhism is called "The Middle Way" as it discourages the extremes of sensual pleasure-seeking AND extreme asceticism. A sort of wise moderation on most things in life is encouraged by many branches of Buddhism. As far as being pessimistic is concerned: Suffering is a reality of the human condition, but the point of Buddhist practice (especially in Mahayana Buddhism) is to overcome suffering so that one can experience Nirvana in this life and live and happy and fulfilled life.

This is one of the best lectures on philosophical subjects i have ever seen. He explains the topics clearly and eloquently yet doesn't needlessly convolute things all the while not dumbing anything down. This should be mandatory viewing for any would be lecturer in all subjects.

I have been waiting for this one!

Hooray this makes my day

cant thank you enough michael .

I met a lad once who was balls deep into Buddhism. He knew all the Upanishads and all the theory. I had a great discussion with him for two or three days comparing Buddhism and Stoicism. But then he was telling me a story of how his mother was on her last legs and how his sister started labelling home appliances and furniture with her name. He told me how much it infuriated him and how he had to get financial support to fight a lengthy legal battle with his siblings in the wake of his mothers passing. I sat there listening to him thinking "where the fuck was all the Buddhism? "

So glad KZfaq is giving a new generation the pleasure of listening to Dr. Sugrue.

Thank God! Greetings from Brazil

Was surprised to find the judgment and opinion about Schopenhauer- have just found Dr. Segrue and have been amazed at the clarity and help he offers in meeting philosophy so late in my life. This one is different - de doesn’t seem to find compassion for this philosopher so as to offer a cleaner perspective. It feels a bit like it hit a fear in him with no way out. Will continue to learn more as Dr. Sugrue has so much to share. Thank you.

What a gem of a professor to discover on a monday morning

So grateful for this lecture.

"The world is not a piece of machinery and animals are not manufactured for our use. Such views should be left to synagogues and philosophical lecture-rooms, which in essence are not so very different." - Arthur Schopenhauer

I was hoping this one would be located. Very nice!

Dr. Sugrue must have been a great dude to go to a bar with. Please continue enlightening me as I drown my existential dread in these pints.

Love this guy's lectures 😍

Thank you for having the wherewithall to record these lectures they are brilliant

These videos are really good

After watching all of the other ones multiple times, seeing a "new" one of these just made my freaking week! Thank you!!! Also, is it just me or is the audio out of sync? Not a big deal just noticing

Schopenhauer is one of my favorite philosophers. He is brilliant, innovative, insightful and original. Readers often miss his wonderful sense of humor. I often find myself in stiches as I come upon his wry and witty remarks. Kant puts me to sleep. Schopenhauer wakes me up and keeps me laughing. He would have been a wonderful standup comedian. I like the way Sugrue comments about Schopenhauer's influence on Freud. I wish he talked more about Schopenhauer's influence on modern physics, especially Einstein's theory of relativity and the whole field of Quantum Physics.

Your lectures are extraordinary

To all: Read "The World as Will and Representation" by Arthur Schopenhauer instead of just relying on this lecture.

I’ve been missing a lecture of Schopenhauer by the great Dr. Sugrue! I am delighted to see this

Thanks for posting this, Dr Sugrue. I spend a lot of my workouts listening to this lecture series on x1.5 speed Always excellent content and I’m excited to watch this despite my familiarity with the content

This is a professor, someone who makes you think, peaks clearly, you learn, you feel like you must look for more information and makes you seek knowledge not make it a task, he makes knowledge seen like a necesity of human existence which it is, school only tells you you must learn in order to do this, philosophy makes you want to know the world and comprehend it better, its a way of life.

Schopenhauer seems to me to be accurate and the most honest of philosophers.

This is best place to start Philosophy. There is a need of more to delve into Schopenhauer philosophy to understand him better.

Thank You!

So articulate, creative and clear. His lectures are as much art as it is education, and inspires me to become more well spoken as well.

The one i was waiting for

Ah, the esteemed Dr. Sugrue. With a cavernous cranial capacity, versatile vocabulary, and erudite explication of the corpus of Western philosophy, the good doctor is my preferred choice for instruction in the minutiae of the this realm we inhabit, which is called the universe. Thank you, Dr. Sugrue. 😊 👍

Can we reflect for a moment on how good this lecturer is.

Respect for this guy. May disagree and be some what put off by Schopenhauer’s thought but still presents it accurately and without distortion

Dr. Sugrue is an absolute legend!

That was amazing.....

Worth the listen

arghhhhh i have been waiting for the grand moment when more of mr sugrues lectures come out. thankyou so much! the other guy is okay, but i prefer sugrue cadence more, they both clearly share the same style in dialectic prowess, must be university thing, im from the uk! i sit down like a kid listening to these things and soak them up like a sponge, hes has what richard feyman, alan watts has, because hes so passionate about his work, everythin he says is like an entralling story in itself, and you can see in his exspression that he to, is enjoying the nuance of the matter at hand. luv this shit ahah

Very good job

Schopenhauer!! Let’s get dark yo!! Woot 🤙🏼

Ugh, I was waiting for this and wondering why one hadn't been posted. 🍿

I think what is necessary to understand Shopenhaur is empathy. I remember studying cognitive behavioural therapy, Buddhism and some Hinduism to try and alleviate my severe depression. Can you imagine being hopelessly locked in the finite and struggling to understand text written by people who are writing from the perspective of the other end of a binary, they are completely immersed in the infinite. The self is an illusion. Then I found Stoicism. Imagine then that the Universe throws you a lifeline, it speaks to you and you have to make a choice, the aesthetic man or the virtuous man. This is what Kierkegaard described as the dizzy heights of freedom because it takes great courage to leave all that you have and throw yourself into the abyss. It would of course be only natural to question your sanity and this is where Reason and faith entwine. " The objective of life is to escape from the side of the majority and find yourself comfortably amongst the ranks of the insane" - Marcus Aurelius. Then once you throw yourself into the abyss you find out what it means to stay present because you have to engage with your reality in the present moment in order to survive, a primary basic instinct, the will to live. As rational social beings we strive for connection, but when you are of a certain intellect you find the company of the majority barely tolerable, so escape from the finite is achieved through substance abuse, altered states, " sometimes an intelligent man has to drink so he can spend some time with his fools" - Hemingway. If you contemplate your conceptual experiences, suffering is an opportunity for growth and development. The Universe will teach you, all you have to do is pay attention. When you reach a certain understanding of Nature, you find yourself in the same position as Dostoyevsky, right on the dividing line. But for this you have to establish new values and be willing to re-define your morality. If you don't and instead impose your morality on Nature all understanding will be over and you will go insane, lost in the abyss, like Nietzsche. Because we are a culmination of the evolutionary process we have instinctual drives, the will to live, not only exist, live, the will to procreate, the will to power and the instinctual drive for pleasure. I used to think Stoicism was about overcoming these instinctual drives but it's not, it's about controlling them, learning how to use them virtuously. As Nietzsche said the organising idea reveals itself and all your actions are directed towards that. You do not avoid pain or seek pleasure, that's from the Bhagavad-Gita. Shopenhaur tried to adhere to Buddhist doctrines and turned sour on women, an alter ego, but he couldn't control the will to power, he went directly head on competing with Hegel. Trying to control his desires and aversions I'm sure caused him much frustration but it was due to a lack of understanding. I have little to no time for passive fatalism, just accepting will go as they must ,is relinquishing what is within our control. If you bring a car to a garage to increase its performance, the garage can't do much if it doesn't understand the engine.