David Bather Woods
friendly neighbourhood Schopenhauerian
• part time Proustian • associate professor @philoswarwick.bsky.social
- Reposted by David Bather Woods‘Alexandre Kojève’s colleagues were aware that he had another life outside the ministry: on Sundays he became a “Hegelian philosopher”, devouring the Gesammelte Werke – so it was said – with the same appetite that others brought to the latest adventures of Tintin.’ www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsNEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today we begin a new series asking why contemporary political philosophy struggles to make sense of the deepest problems of politics and exploring how the history of ideas might help. Political theorist Paul Sagar suggests we start with Aristotle. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsSome very exciting new hardbacks and paperbacκs out later this year in @anthempress.bsky.social Studies in #Wittgenstein! Get 25% off all titles old and new by pre-ordering with code WPS25: www.anthempress.com/anthem-studi...
- Spotted in Powell’s City of Books, Portland 👀
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsHow have ideas of relational equality developed in the past 100 years? ⚖️ Don't miss this forthcoming #London #Lecture by TRIP President @jowolff.bsky.social, Social Equality: Then and Now. 🎟️ Get tickets here: buff.ly/WQ4gFXS #politicalphilosophy #socialequality #philosophy
- Reposted by David Bather Woods'A crucial innovation lay in the invention of ‘timelines’ (...) In 1765, the scientist-philosopher Joseph Priestley, best known for co-discovering oxygen, invented what was arguably the world’s first modern timeline.' aeon.co/essays/when-...
- Is there such a thing as a reverse writers retreat, where I don’t go away but everybody else does?
- Schopenhauer and Mill are neck and neck! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
- What will you be doing on Schopenhauer’s 238th birthday? If you want to spend it with me and other Schopenhaurians, you can! Join me and @ahalder.bsky.social for an @interintellect.bsky.social salon on Schopenhauer’s life and thought. Tickets are free at the link below.
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsAls je de mooie biografie van @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social gelezen hebt ga je dit ook lezen, in het Duits nog wel 🙈 Schopenhauer was de enige inzending op de prijsvraag naar de grondslag van de moraal en kreeg er GEEN prijs voor. Dat liet hij natuurlijk niet over zijn kant gaan. Ben benieuwd.
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsA new biography of Arthur Schopenhauer from @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social and the University of Chicago Press: "He has produced a swiftly and gracefully readable book about Schopenhauer which doesn’t stint on explication." www.georgehunka.com/books/self-h...
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsAccording to #Schopenhauer, the person who can say "yes" to accepting the suffering in exchange for the joy, has realised their connection to the eternal lifeforce and conquered the fear of death. #philsky Arthur Schopenhauer Life and Thought of Philosophy’s Greatest Pessimist David Bather Woods.
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsNew blog post. I recently finished a new biography of #Schopenhauer from @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social (highly recommend). One part that stood out was Schopenhauer's warning about how excessive solitude can feed social anxiety. #philosophy #mentalhealth
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsWeekend reading. Only 30 pages in, I already think it is great book!
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsJust finished this excellent biography of Arthur Schopenhauer by @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social. It’s a very loving portrait of a grumpy, deeply pessimistic man who made compassion to the core of his ethics and wrote in a style that should have earned him a Nobel prize in literature avant la lettre.
- Spotted in Labyrinth Books, Princeton 👀 @uchicagopress.bsky.social
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsAt #APAE2026? Check out Arthur Schopenhauer, an engaging biography of one of the most influential Western philosophers. Get it 30% off here: bit.ly/UCPAPA
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsAh, it was later than I'd remembered.
- I've fallen down a rabbit hole of looking up Schopenhauer's first mentions in British newspapers. Here in the Daily Mail (Wednesday, August 25, 1897), Schopenhauer is invoked in a labour dispute launched by female telegraphists working at the Post Office.
- 👀 Get a 30% discount on my book and other Philosophy titles with the promo code below👇
- At the American Philosophical Association meeting this year? We'll see you there! Whether you're attending or not, you can check out our featured books and get 30% off & free U.S. shipping with promo code EX58192: bit.ly/UCPAPA #APAE2026
- God bless Oxfam #FoundInOxfam
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsOn aphorism www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
- Max Brod met Franz Kafka at a lecture that he (Brod) gave on Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.
- Reposted by David Bather Woods"...On his deathbed, he exclaimed: “Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life.” Maybe so, yet you close this wonderful biography thinking that the linguistic philosopher JL Austin summed him up best: “Poor old Witters.” " www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/12aace9...
- My first Substack post. It’s a tale of murder and intrigue! Please share.
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsMy @thetls.bsky.social review of Anthony Gottlieb’s new biography of Ludwig Wittgenstein (behind a paywall) www.the-tls.com/philosophy/h...
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsNEW Every year we ask Nigel Warburton (@philosophybites) to select the best new philosophy books. Here's his 2025 selection—including biographies of Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein, and a carefully-curated collection of Existentialist writings. fivebooks.com/best-books/b...
- A round up of my year in publications and podcasts 🧵
- The headline news is my book finally came out! A new short philosophical biography of Schopenhauer, shining a light on the life of philosophy’s greatest pessimist from the perspective of his own ideas. 🧵
- My new book was selected by @nigelwarburton.bsky.social for @fivebooks.com as one of the best philosophy books of the year. 🧵
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View full threadAll in all, it has been an exciting year! And to top it off, I’ve had an offer on my next book proposal, something completely different from what I’ve done before. So I’m looking forward getting stuck into lots of writing in 2026. Thanks for reading to the end, and all the best for the New Year! 🧵
- “If you arrive in a new town and you want to find the worst behaved people, go to the Philosophy Department and look for the ethicists.” Fascinating conversation about Jarman’s ‘Wittgenstein’ - which, I admit, is a film I never made through to the end. Now I want to go back and try again.
- NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! The fourth episode in our season of live recordings is about Derek Jarman’s 'Wittgenstein' (1993), which tells the story of an extraordinary life in a way that is both light and profound. David talks to writer and philosopher Nikhil Krishnan. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsNEW EPISODE OUT NOW! The fourth episode in our season of live recordings is about Derek Jarman’s 'Wittgenstein' (1993), which tells the story of an extraordinary life in a way that is both light and profound. David talks to writer and philosopher Nikhil Krishnan. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsHere’s a book you don’t see everyday - an illustrated edition of Simone de Beauvoir’s essay “Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome” #FoundInOxfam
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsA brilliant new biography of #Schopenhauer from @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsEvery year for the past decade, our philosophy editor, Nigel Warburton, has picked his best five philosophy books of the year. Here are all his choices -- from Buddhism to utilitarianism and Hannah Arendt to Zhuangzi: fivebooks.com/category/phi...
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsVictorian shampoo was something else. I mean, probably literally, something else: camphorated rhubarb rub; inspissated egg caudle with arrowroot sharpener; Guinness, cockles and garlic.
- Perfect reading matter for the festive period. @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsPerfect reading matter for the festive period. @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social
- Beauvoir, gripped by the fear of death, turns to Schopenhauer
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsClosing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵 Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
- Reposted by David Bather Woods🎉Warmest congratulations to Dr Jessie Munton on the publication of her book, Priority and Prejudice: The Epistemology of Salience and Attention (OUP) 📘 @jessiemunton.bsky.social @oupphilosophy.bsky.social @stjohnscollege.bsky.social @leverhulmetrust.bsky.social global.oup.com/academic/pro...
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsSchopenhauer doing a bluesky thread about his failed tenure track job Search
- Reposted by David Bather WoodsThe holiday reading for xmas trip to the big smoke (London obvs, not "Dublin").
- Delighted to learn a reader has taken my book to Cafe Schopenhauer in Vienna. These are the names of the dishes.
