Arthur Schopenhauer was the philosopher of pessimism, the thinker who declared life is suffering and existence is fundamentally tragic. Born in 1788 in Danzig to a wealthy merchant family, he spent his entire philosophical career arguing that the world is essentially blind, purposeless will manifesting as endless craving and pain. While other philosophers sought to justify existence or find rational order in the universe, Schopenhauer insisted on facing the brutal truth. Reality is irrational suffering. Human life is desire that can never be satisfied. Happiness is at best temporary relief from pain. Death is the only permanent escape. This uncompromising...