SOURCE: "The Possibility of Metaphysics," in Schopenhauer: His Philosophical Achievement, edited by Michael Fox, The Harvester Press, Sussex, 1980, pp. 37-49.

Gardiner is an English critic, editor, and educator. In the following essay, which originally appeared in his Schopenhauer (1963), Gardiner examines Schopenhauer's distinction between philosophy and religion, and describes his approach to characterizing the Ding an sich.

'A Man becomes a philosopher by reason of a certain perplexity, from which he seeks to free himself . . . But what distinguishes the false philosopher from the true is this: the perplexity of the latter arises from the contemplation of the world itself, while that of the former results from some book, some system of philosophy which lies before him.' Schopenhauer was not alone in characterizing the metaphysical frame of mind as being essentially one of original perplexity or (as he refers to it elsewhere) wonder; wonder 'concerning the world and our...