Translator's Preface / Author's Preface to the First Edition / Author's Preface to the Second Edition / Author's Preface to the Third Edition
Volume 1: The World as Representation, Part 1 (Representation Subordinate to the Law of Ground/Objects of Experience and Learning)
1.
The world is my representation / 2.
Subjective and Objective Perception / 3.
Time and space as a form of sufficient evidence / 4.
The intelligence that recognizes the causality of matter / 5.
The question of the reality of the external world / 6.
The nature and function of intelligence / 7.
Representation divided into subjective and objective / 8.
Human Reason and Intelligence / 9.
Concepts and Logic / 10.
Knowledge as an abstract cognition of reason / 11.
Emotions, the opposite of knowledge / 12.
The functions of reason and reflection / 13.
Base and Foolishness / 14.
Form of learning / 15.
Building the Basis of Truth and the Possibility of Error / 16.
Kant's practical reason and Stoic ethics

Volume 2: The World as Will, Part 1 (The Objectification of the Will)
17.
The meaning of intuitive representation / 18.
The relationship between body and will / 19.
The body as will and representation / 20.
The body as an expression of desire / 21.
The will as the thing itself and the representation as the objectivity of the will / 22.
The concept of will and the concept of power / 23.
Will as a thing in itself, free from the form of phenomena / 24.
The Necessity of Will / 25.
Ideology, the stage of objectification of will / 26.
Natural force, the objectification of the will that is not subject to the sufficient basis / 27.
The process of objectification of the will in several stages / 28.
Purposiveness in the objectification of the will / 29.
The essence of will without goals or limits

Book 3: The World as Representation, Part 2 (Representation Unrelated to the Law of Ground/Plato's Ideas/The Object of Art)
30.
Awareness of Ideology / 31.
Plato's Ideas and Kant's Things in Themselves / 32.
The idea of ​​the proper objectivity of things themselves / 33.
Perception in the service of ideology / 34.
Pure cognitive subjectivity / 35.
Distinction between will and ideology, ideology and phenomenon / 36.
Creative Genius and Madness / 37.
Artists and Artworks / 38.
Subjective conditions for feeling aesthetic satisfaction / 39.
Sublimity and aesthetics / 40.
The opposite of the sublime is attractiveness / 41.
Beauty as an expression of ideology / 42.
Aesthetic Impression / 43.
Architecture and Beauty / 44.
The Beauty of Plants and Animals / 45.
Human beauty as the objectification of the highest level of will / 46.
The Beauty of the Laocoon Statue / 47.
The Beauty of Language Art / 48.
Historicization / 49.
Concept and ideology of works of art / 50.
Allegory of Art / 51.
On Poetry / 52.
Music as a copy of the will itself

Book 4: The World as Will, Part 2 (Affirmation and Denial of the Will to Live in the Case of Self-Awareness)
53.
For a new understanding of philosophy / 54.
Affirmation and denial of the will to live / 55.
On the Absolute Freedom of the Will / 56.
Will and the agony of life / 57.
Suffering, a fundamental characteristic of life / 58.
The negative nature of fulfillment and happiness / 59.
All life is a history of suffering / 60.
Affirmation of the will to live / 61.
The root of selfishness, the starting point of all struggles / 62.
On State Contracts and Law / 63.
Eternal Justice / 64.
Two traits of human nature: revenge and narcissism / 65.
Good and Evil and the Pangs of Conscience / 66.
The Source of Virtue and Goodness / 67.
On Compassion / 68.
Denial of the will to live / 69.
On suicide as an affirmation of will / 70.
Christian Doctrine and Ethics / 71.
The will and world of nothingness

Appendix - Critique of Kant's Philosophy
Unpacking - The Solitary Life and Works of Arthur Schopenhauer, the Eccentric Sage of Frankfurt (Hong Seong-gwang)
Arthur Schopenhauer Chronology
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Without will, there is no representation, no world.
Schopenhauer's masterpiece, which had a great influence on Freud and Nietzsche

The Source of Arthur Schopenhauer's Absolute Influence

Among modern German philosophers, perhaps no one has achieved such a wide readership and fame after his death as Arthur Schopenhauer.
As a philosopher and writer, he had a profound influence on modern German literature by reforming the written German language together with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and has been admired by numerous literary figures including Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Kafka, Hermann Hesse, and Émile Zola.
Also, Nietzsche was so impressed by his writings that he decided to become a philosopher, Wittgenstein started his own philosophy based on his, and Einstein, after reading his writings, let his imagination run wild and established the theory of relativity.


Above all, Schopenhauer's 'philosophy of the will' had a great influence on modern psychology.
Schopenhauer directly rejected the premise that human beings have reason and the ability to make rational judgments and live orderly lives, and argued that the real driving force behind human beings is the blind and unconscious 'will' to preserve life.
This view has much in common with the basic propositions of modern psychoanalysis, which focuses on the unconscious.
Furthermore, Sigmund Freud acknowledged that Schopenhauer was the first to properly explain 'repression', which is the foundation of psychoanalysis, and Carl Jung, who explored the collective unconscious, Alfred Adler, who proposed individual psychology, and Jacques Lacan, a structuralist psychoanalyst, were also greatly influenced by him.


The reason Schopenhauer's influence is so evident across so many fields is because he possessed both a rare insight into the human condition and exceptional talent as a writer.
And the work that perfectly demonstrates this aspect is 『The World as Will and Representation』, first published in 1819.
This book contains his philosophy of will and his sharp perspective on life, which represents his thoughts without any exaggeration.

When we transcend our will, the suffering of life becomes nothing.

German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel emphasized that everything in the world moves through thesis and antithesis, and that the power and principles of reason are at work in its development.
Although his philosophy became a trend in German philosophy in the early 19th century, Schopenhauer's thoughts were different.
In his major work, The World as Will and Representation, which he wrote over three years from 1816, he rejected the rational philosophy represented by Hegel and attempted to understand the world through will rather than reason.


Schopenhauer divided this book into four volumes.
While volumes 1 and 2 dealt with the will in a positive way, volumes 3 and 4 built on the previous content by pointing out that the negation of the will is a possibility of liberation.
And in the appendix, “Critique of Kant’s Philosophy,” he delves into the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, which can be said to be the root of his philosophical thinking.
With this, his own solid philosophy based on Kant's philosophy was completed as a single work.

According to Schopenhauer, reason is merely a brain phenomenon, a by-product limited by the will.
Therefore, in order to understand the essence of the world, we must approach it through will, not reason.
The ability that enables human cognitive activity, that is, intelligence, is also a limited product of the will.
Will is objectified in various ways by things, and the world in which will is objectified in this way is the world of representation.
The world perceived by the intellect is merely a world of representations, and the various characteristics of the world of representations do not reveal the original characteristics of the world.
His argument is that when we correctly recognize the limitations of this world of representation, we can discover the foundation for experiencing the original world, that is, the world of will.

The world of will that Schopenhauer places the greatest importance on here is the world of living nature.
He grasps the essence of the phenomenon of life, in which living things are born, grow, and reproduce, through will.
For him, the act of reproduction is the most concise expression of the will to live.
Humans directly experience this will of nature through their own 'body', which can be called their own nature, and here they have all kinds of impulses, instincts, and desires.


Schopenhauer argues that humans who are aware of this will of nature desire everything for themselves.
Selfishness is a psychological state that arises from affirming the will to live.
Ultimately, human life is filled with suffering because it is driven by constant desire.
Therefore, humans can escape suffering only by denying the will that gives rise to desire and living a life detached from it.
This is Schopenhauer's own 'theory of happiness' that he advocates through the will.


The Essence of 19th-Century Western Philosophy, Now on the Way to a Final Edition

Schopenhauer's philosophy, which confronts the problem of suffering in life metaphysically, was known for a time as pessimism that praised death and advocated unconditional resignation to life.
However, as is clearly revealed in 『The World as Will and Representation』, the fundamental driving force behind Schopenhauer's thought is the philosophical questioning of the suffering that appears in human life and the 'therapeutic' prescription for escaping from the suffering of life.
His pessimistic view that the world is full of suffering is a diagnosis of the world, not the ultimate goal of his philosophy.


Meanwhile, in the preface, Schopenhauer emphasizes that to understand this book, one must first understand Kant's philosophy.
He was so influenced by Kant that he highly regarded his philosophy, comparing reading Kant's hesitations and gaining enlightenment to "a blind person undergoing glaucoma surgery."
This is why "A Critique of Kant's Philosophy," which points out the meaning and limitations of his philosophy, was included as an appendix to "The World as Will and Representation."
Eulyoo Publishing is the first publisher in Korea to include the important "Critique of Kant's Philosophy" in its entirety in "The World as Will and Representation."

Eulyoo Publishing's 『The World as Will and Representation』 is a masterpiece that was first published in 2009, then revised and expanded in 2015, and now presented in a completely revised edition.
For this revised edition, published as part of the 'Eul-Yu Thought Classics' series to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the official publication, translator Dr. Hong Seong-gwang further strengthened the existing clear commentary.
All explanations surrounding the book, including Schopenhauer's eventful life journey and the relationship between his philosophy of will and Buddhist thought, have been significantly supplemented.
Additionally, this revised edition includes over 30 illustrations of Schopenhauer and his philosophy to aid readers' understanding.
From portraits of major philosophers to famous paintings depicting Greco-Roman mythology, the reading experience is a delightful experience.
In short, this book can be said to be the 'definitive edition' of 'The World as Will and Representation'.