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I'm looking for someone who can give me the name of a thinker who says the complete opposite to Schopenhauer (on the same subject).

I'm about to read "Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung" or at least certain bits of it, and I was told to not only read one philosopher's work on a subject.

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Maybe you could be more specific on which subject their opinions should be contradicting? – iphigenie Jan 19 at 21:48
I don't think you'll find any pair of philosophers who would disagree with each other on every single point each of them makes. – SF. Jan 20 at 1:20
It's about the subject: Love – Jesse Dijkstra Jan 21 at 13:18
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@JesseDijkstra You should definitely edit your question and add that information, then. Maybe you can also include some of what you have read so far, then finding an antithesis will be a lot easier. – iphigenie Jan 22 at 13:09

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As Schopenhauer spent much time and energy on denouncing Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Johann Gottlieb Fichte, opposing their views violently to those of Kant and himself, I would suggest reading one of their works.

For the subject is love, Fichte contemplates on it in his Anweisung zum seligen Leben (The Way Towards the Blessed Life), proposing to "shift love from the manifold to the one", that is, transforming it from being sensual, temporary, volatile to an enduring, eternal value.

Schopenhauer also regards sensual or romantic love as being too volatile. In his view, it is merely a masked sexual desire, hence a delusion having arisen only to secure the ongoing of mankind physically. He argues the only ethically acceptable form of love is the one that rises from sympathy as a means of self-knowledge, hereby contributing to the negation of the will.

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I thought sympathy was a large part, if not the majority part of love. How does Schopenhauer distinguish between the two - surely not just on sensual grounds? – Mozibur Ullah Jan 22 at 19:02
Good point. Schopenhauer shares your view of sympathy being the major component of love. Edited answer. – Mrmfldmn Jan 23 at 9:24

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