(f.) As to Willkühr (arbitrium, literally 'will-choice'), after a great deal of consideration I have chosen (relative) free-will as the nearest approach to the German sense, or at any rate, to that in which Schopenhauer uses it. Willkühr means in fact what is commonly understood as free-will; i.e. will with power of choice, will determined by motives and unimpeded by outward obstacles: arbitrium as opposed to voluntas: conscious will as opposed to blind impulse. This relative free-will however is quite distinct from absolute free-will (liberum arbitrium indifferentiæ) in a metaphysical sense, i.e. will in its self-dependency. When its arbitrary character is specially emphasized, we call Willkühr, caprice, but this is not the usual meaning given to it by Schopenhauer.

Besides the meaning of these German words, I have still to define the sense in which I have used the term idea in this translation; for this word has greatly changed its meaning at different times and with different authors, and is even now apt to confuse and mislead. Schopenhauer has himself contributed in one way to render its signification less clear; since, in spite of his declaration in the "Fourfold Root"[4] to the effect, that he never uses the word idea in any other than its original (Platonic) sense, he has himself employed it to translate Vorstellung, in a specimen he gives of a rendering of a passage in Kant's "Prolegomena" in a letter addressed to Haywood, published in Gwinner's "Biography of Schopenhauer." This he probably did because some eminent English and French philosophers had taken the word in this sense, thinking perhaps that Kant's meaning would thus be more readily understood. As however he uses the word 'idea' everywhere else exclusively in its original (Platonic) sense, I have preferred to avoid needless confusion by adhering to his own declaration and definition. Besides, many English writers of note have protested against any other sense being given to it, and modern German philosophers have more and more returned to the original meaning of the term.

Some readers may take exception at such expressions as à priority, motivation, aseity; for they are not, strictly speaking, English words. These terms however belong to Schopenhauer's own characteristic terminology, and have a distinct and clearly defined meaning; therefore they had to be retained in all cases in which they could not be evaded, in order not to interfere with the Author's intention: a necessity which the scholar will not fail to recognise, especially when I plead in my defence that fidelity and accuracy have been my sole aim in this work.

If moreover Carlyle's words, "He who imports into his own country any true delineation, any rationally spoken word on any subject, has done well," are true, I may also be absolved from censure, if I lay before the public this version of some important utterances of a great thinker, in the hope that it may be an assistance in, and an incitement to, a deeper study of all Schopenhauer's works.

The Translator.

May, 1888.

CONTENTS.

ON THE FOURFOLD ROOT OF THE PRINCIPLE
OF SUFFICIENT REASON.

CHAP. PAGE
Translator's Preface[v]
Author's Preface to the Second Edition[xvii]
Editor's Preface to the Third Edition[xx]
Editor's Preface to the Fourth Edition[xxviii]
I.Introduction[1]
II.General Survey of the most important views hitherto held concerning the Principle of Sufficient Reason[6]
III.Insufficiency of the Old and outlines of a New Demonstration[28]
IV.On the First Class of Objects for the Subject, and that form of the Principle of Sufficient Reason which predominates in it[31]
V.On the Second Class of Objects for the Subject and that form of the Principle of Sufficient Reason which predominates in it[114]
VI.On the Third Class of Objects for the Subject and that form of the Principle of Sufficient Reason which predominates in it[153]
VII.On the Fourth Class of Objects for the Subject, and that form of the Principle of Sufficient Reason which predominates in it[165]
VIII.General observations and results[177]