Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 10 Deutsche Mark 1988, KM# 168, Germany, Federal Republic, 200th Anniversary of Birth of Arthur Schopenhauer
  • 10 Deutsche Mark 1988, KM# 168, Germany, Federal Republic, 200th Anniversary of Birth of Arthur Schopenhauer
Description

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work The World as Will and Representation (expanded in 1844), wherein he characterizes the phenomenal world as the product of a blind and insatiable metaphysical will. Proceeding from the transcendental idealism of Immanuel Kant, Schopenhauer developed an atheistic metaphysical and ethical system that has been described as an exemplary manifestation of philosophical pessimism, rejecting the contemporaneous post-Kantian philosophies of German idealism. Schopenhauer was among the first thinkers in Western philosophy to share and affirm significant tenets of Eastern philosophy (e.g., asceticism, the world-as-appearance), having initially arrived at similar conclusions as the result of his own philosophical work.

Though his work failed to garner substantial attention during his life, Schopenhauer has had a posthumous impact across various disciplines, including philosophy, literature, and science. His writing on aesthetics, morality, and psychology would exert an important influence on thinkers and artists throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Those who have cited his influence include Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Wagner, Leo Tolstoy, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, Otto Rank, Gustav Mahler, Joseph Campbell, Albert Einstein, Carl Jung, Thomas Mann, Émile Zola, George Bernard Shaw, Jorge Luis Borges and Samuel Beckett.

Engraver: Hans Joachim Dobler

Obverse

Depicts Federal Eagle in the centre, surrounded by the country name, issue date, Bavarian Central Mint (D) mark and facial value.

The coat of arms of Germany displays a black eagle with red feet, beak and tongue on a golden field. This is the Bundesadler or "Federal Eagle", formerly the Reichsadler or "Imperial Eagle". It is a re-introduction of the coat of arms of the Weimar Republic (in use 1919–1935) adopted by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1950. The current official design is due to Tobias Schwab (1887–1967) and was introduced in 1928.

• BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND •
1989 D 10 DEUTSCHE MARK

Reverse

Depicts a Portrait of Arthur Schopenhauer. His name and dates of his birth and death are below.

1788-1860 ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER

Edge

The World as Will and Representation (German: Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung) is the central work of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.

DIE WELT ALS WILLE UND VORSTELLUNG

10 Deutsche Mark

200th Anniversary of Birth of Arthur Schopenhauer

KM# 168 Jaeger# 443 Schön# 168
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Silver
Fineness 0.625
Weight 15.5 g
Diameter 32.5 mm
Thickness 2.25 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Bavarian Central Mint (D)

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