Schopenhauer is the most readable of all German philosophers. This book gives us a condensed and concise explanation of his metaphysical system, focusing one the original views of his thought, which appeared as a source of inspiration for many artists and thinkers, starting with Nietzsche, Wager, Freud and Wittgenstein. Christopher Janway juxtaposes Schopenhauer’s pessimistic view that it would have been better for the human being not to exist with his idea that only self-denial, withdraw from the will, is all that gives it value life. In this book, Schopenhauer is revealed to us as a challenging, progressive thinker with an increasingly wide influence.