Why Schopenhauer Believed in MAGIC (The World as Will)

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ม.ค. 2025

ความคิดเห็น • 151

  • @cosminblk8359
    @cosminblk8359 4 ปีที่แล้ว +54

    I am just a smart guy : I see Schopenhauer, I click.

    • @satnamo
      @satnamo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Das essence of technology is to make everything and anything at all
      Ready2order@1touch(button)!
      Xxxarthurschopenhauerxyzxx

    • @LilKrobik
      @LilKrobik 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I am just a silly guy, I do the same :)

  • @nagelsleu3339
    @nagelsleu3339 4 ปีที่แล้ว +47

    little did you know, Arthur was the only one to have figured out the truth behind Sr Regazzoni.

  • @codbmc
    @codbmc 4 ปีที่แล้ว +31

    Never stop making these I love this channel

    • @satnamo
      @satnamo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      M2

  • @LolliPop2000
    @LolliPop2000 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    The existence of an Italian conman hardly proves magic is "obviously absurd," no more than counterfeit money proves real money doesn't exist. Bernardo Kastrup, whom who discuss elsewhere, addresses this issue re his own, Schopenhauer-ish metaphysics. Magic would be impossible in a purely materialistic world, but if "the world is mental" as Kastrup says, it does indeed become possible (there is no impassible wall btw my will and the world) but in practice unlikely enough to be ignored outside of entertainment. Schopenhauer's world may not entail magic, but magic does entail a world along the lines of Schopenhauer or Kastrup. I discuss New Thought and relate it to Evola's "Magical Idealism," Crowley's Magick and Neo Platonism in my recent book, Mysticism After Modernism: Crowley, Evola, Neville, Watts, Colin Wilson and Other Populist Gurus. Had I known more about Schopenhauer I would have included him as well.

    • @PeterGregoryKelly
      @PeterGregoryKelly 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Does money exist? There is a question. Or is money simply collectively imagined? You see a big house and see a lot of money behind it. A sparrow flying overhead sees nothing of the sort, just a construction of wood, brick, stone, concrete and glass and does not even see it as a "property" of some sort. The same sparrow does not see property boundaries or different nations when flying over national borders, all things which have to be collectively imagined in order to have any existence

  • @jimporfit
    @jimporfit 3 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    I think he was right just the wrong type of magic. Those were illusions he saw, and that he justified it with the correct logic. The real magic exists in the super conscious realm.

    • @salvador.garcia
      @salvador.garcia หลายเดือนก่อน

      Exactly, there are types of magic. I myself have used some of my own energies for healing purposes (which is what I've been most interested in). But Schopenhauer fell into a kind of wishful thinking, trying to justify these conjurers quickly, just because his metaphysics and logic told him magic was possible.
      It's obvious Schopenhauer lacked an initiation into esotericism; sometimes reading the primary sources of mythology is not everything. Goethe knew.

  • @frankchilds9848
    @frankchilds9848 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    I have been fooled so many times that I should win an award! Seriously, I am grateful for your video. Life itself could well be a cosmic joke or magic act anyway! 🎬 I like your film clips too!

  • @chrystianrevelles
    @chrystianrevelles 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Actually, was not because of this supposed hypnotist that Schopenhauer believed in Magic, but for his studying of Böehme, Mesmer, Agrippa, Paracelsus. This case was only one possible example of Magic manifesting in the world of representation. The bases of Schopenhauer's system are all in accord with Western Esoteric Tradition, from Hermeticism to Rosicrucianism. The judgement of Magic as Stupidity made by the author of the video says less about Magic than about his very limited, grotesque and ludicrous misconceptions and preconceptions regarding it.

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Yes, I do regret using the wording I did in this video. A follow-up video is in order.

  • @Sokofeather
    @Sokofeather 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I should note, the famous Mesmer and others laid the ground work for clinical hypnosis, and performed similar feats of 'control', without confederates, plants. I have also performed these pieces for entertainment and can attest that it's merely a linguistic and symbolic manipulation, within the context of play, which works immediately with about 30% of any population, and can feel very real to the participant.

  • @lov1ah
    @lov1ah 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I love to see Magick everywhere, and now I know I can fully appreciate Schopenhauer

  • @Shevock
    @Shevock 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    My thoughts: Is your non-belief in magic, as Schopenhauer conceived of it (Will accomplishing seemingly super-natural, or super-material things) based one an apriori bias, a prejudice against the possibility of magic common to our generation, or philosophically thought-out? In the video your claims against magic seem naive, whereas Schopenhauer's belief in magic does not, even if he is wrong. There is a structure from which Schopenhauer can rationalize magic, where your assumption that the magical act was faked and that the acted upon was a plant have no similar logical basis. No proof.

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      The “magician” was an undisputed fraud. But we will redo this video because we were unnecessarily harsh on Schopenhauer in this one.

    • @yorbobazarov335
      @yorbobazarov335 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@WeltgeistYT Please delve into Schopenhauer's thoughts on race and how it was influenced by geography and climate.

    • @anhumblemessengerofthelawo3858
      @anhumblemessengerofthelawo3858 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@WeltgeistYT
      _The magicians would dispute it. But you don't think they exist. Brilliant._
      _Modern mathematical physics is voodoo. Heraclitus said, nature loves to conceal herself. Francis Bacon said, you have to put nature on the torture rack -- and force her to give you her secrets. Why do you think a zillions and zillions of particles are being "discovered"? The mathematical formulas FORCE nature to respond accordingly. It is inventive, as Einstein said. This is same principle as magic which you so stringently opposed. The irony is outrageous._

    • @Math-in4dd
      @Math-in4dd 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@WeltgeistYT Yes am sorry to say but this video felt like the presumptuous revenge of a mediocre mind over a great one. Also such "acts" are actually possible without tricks or fraudsters being planted. Suggestion can indeed, under the impetus of a skilled hypnotiser, lead to real physiological impact on someone... which again relates to the conception that the will plays out in manners we hardly begin to grasp with mere mechanistic science.

    • @sgonzalez_guitarra
      @sgonzalez_guitarra ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@@WeltgeistYT don't listen this comment, your video was awesome. And it's pretty stupid to believe in magic indeed, just like believing in ghosts; in the fourfold root of the principle of sufficient reason, Schopenhauer explains why people that believe in ghosts are stupid because of their lack of understanding of the intuitive world. Sorry if my English is bad

  • @MrSuperbluesky
    @MrSuperbluesky 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Never over esteem anyone

  • @carterreloads4648
    @carterreloads4648 3 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    Imagine if Schopenhauer ever took psychedelics. I wish I could read a trip report form him

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      You and me both

    • @satnamo
      @satnamo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Das whole world is a freaking hell

    • @wormwoodcocktail
      @wormwoodcocktail ปีที่แล้ว +1

      He’d cry

  • @satnamo
    @satnamo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    This is das trick because this is how magic happens:
    By hurling my self into das abyss and then discovering it is a feather bed made of roses.

  • @MhueD
    @MhueD 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Jung makes a similar claim with his concept of Synchronicity....and it is far from crazy. The interaction between Will and Matter may be more complex then the kind of simple 'trick' versions depicted on stage, but the idea that our conscious states may have an effect on the physical world in a non-local way is well worth exploring and considering. The only argument against this is a commitment to pure reductionism ...and that has more problems as an approach.

    • @sempressfi
      @sempressfi ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Yeah this is one reason I'm super interested in neuroscience and how seeing or thinking about certain things causes the physical areas of the brain to react. I think about how much the mind manifests reactions (and reality) a lot and I've been super deep in Jung's work off and on the last couple years as well as others who have expanded on his ideas around synchronicity, archetypes, etc

    • @flaviomenezes4992
      @flaviomenezes4992 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Rupert Sheldrake's idea of "Morphic Resonance" comes to mind as well

    • @wormwoodcocktail
      @wormwoodcocktail ปีที่แล้ว

      @@flaviomenezes4992explain

    • @alexkiddonen
      @alexkiddonen 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​And down we go into the Terence McKenna DMT rabbit hole

  • @PeterGregoryKelly
    @PeterGregoryKelly 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Conan Doyle, who created the Sherlock Holmes character, believed in fairies. Quiet a few mining companies paid Uri Geller millions to "find" mineral rich ore bodies they could prospect.

  • @samuelterry6354
    @samuelterry6354 4 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    I've started reading WWR all the way through, I've read bits of it before but not from beginning to end. I'm halfway through the third book of volume 1, and enjoying it thoroughly. Thank you for your videos on Schopenhauer, they're always very interesting.

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Thank you! Enjoy WWR, it's a rewarding read

  • @marton8288
    @marton8288 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    lmfao how i started laughing at 2:34, that's something that sounds for schopenhauer like something like my sister and I sounds for nietzsche, i didn't expect that at all

  • @duhbigcat1848
    @duhbigcat1848 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    Schopenhauer as most of us was so desperate to transcend this world of suffering, he fell for a cheap trick. Who amongst us has not done the same?

    • @satnamo
      @satnamo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Therefore I skateboard.

  • @Technician_time
    @Technician_time 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Seems a lot like what Neville Goddard talks about manifesting reality in accordance to one's will and thought patterns

  • @joaomoura4213
    @joaomoura4213 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Although the example of the magician is silly, Schopenhauer's explanations end up making a wonderful link between his work and the work of Carlos Castaneda: the tonal (representation) and the nagual (will)

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Do you have any recommended books to learn more?

    • @joaomoura4213
      @joaomoura4213 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@WeltgeistYT Tales of Power

    • @TAROTAI
      @TAROTAI 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Almost every story he told - from the details of his background to tales of his time with don Juan - was a fabrication. By the early 1970s, investigative journalists and researchers were finding massive holes in his accounts.
      Richard DeMille published 'Castaneda's Journey', a point-by-point repudiation of Castaneda's tale of don Juan. He noted that Castaneda kept no field notes, incorrectly used Native terms, inaccurately described Native practices and everything he claimed to have uncovered was already known to anthropologists and researchers.
      João, enroll in Magic School

  • @gadnqr
    @gadnqr หลายเดือนก่อน

    Schopenhauer provided a logical metaphysical explanation for how these magic tricks might work, assuming they truly occur and the woman was not a plant.

  • @GrodyMcG
    @GrodyMcG 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Schopenhauer always explained every concussion he came to. As an admirer of his I find it strange that you feel no need at all to explain why you find his conclusions "patently absurd"

  • @nabilalhusail4731
    @nabilalhusail4731 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I don't agree with the dough/cookies metaphor as it implies affecting the will requires affecting the timeline as well
    The will and its representation exist at the same time
    A closer resemblance could be about a home appliance affecting the power source so it would magically affect another appliance

  • @matthewdown5378
    @matthewdown5378 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    'Oh no, a magician' said the laws of physics

  • @andrejpetrov6352
    @andrejpetrov6352 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    great video as always, keep up the good work!

  • @wormwoodcocktail
    @wormwoodcocktail ปีที่แล้ว

    2:40 “Do you really believe that? That someone would go on stage and tell lies?”

  • @myxti3669
    @myxti3669 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Fantasia nostalgia hitting hard from 7:15 to end of video.

  • @jamescareyyatesIII
    @jamescareyyatesIII 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    You have to believe in magic to accept Shopenhauer's metaphysics

  • @Existentialist-earthling52
    @Existentialist-earthling52 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Belief in magic and superstitious stuff can often give people a sense of feeling special. Schopenhauer clearly had a desire to be such as seen through his relationship with his mother.
    In his belief in magic, he didn't earn the right to feel special.
    In his philosophy, he did earn the right to feel special.

  • @brendangolledge8312
    @brendangolledge8312 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    What if Shopenhauer was just playing dumb in order to troll us?

  • @bahaiphilosophy1102
    @bahaiphilosophy1102 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    AS I used to tell my students: "Don't believe everything you think."

  • @Pro-tanto
    @Pro-tanto 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Is his philosophy about magic based only on this example, or did he provide any other examples in his other works?

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      There is more. We’ll do an update on this video since, in retrospect, this video was too superficial

    • @Pro-tanto
      @Pro-tanto 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@WeltgeistYT Awesome! I will look forward to watching it. Thanks!

  • @AB-gp5jr
    @AB-gp5jr 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Schopenhauer didn't master Vedic Sanskrit, lol. He relies on the standard German translations of the Upanishads that came out in 1810. So that's totally wrong.

  • @leonfourie7337
    @leonfourie7337 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Awesome and great conclusion.

  • @viannarts
    @viannarts 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    whoever been in a magic mushroom trip knows that he is actually right.

  • @NolsMix1
    @NolsMix1 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    keep em coming.

  • @Rkenichi
    @Rkenichi 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    mfw Arthur Schopenhauer was a manic pixie dream girl

  • @kendrickjahn1261
    @kendrickjahn1261 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I knew there was something to David Blaine's magic! Lol. That guy can tap into the World of Will.

  • @Em_Branco
    @Em_Branco 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    This is very interesting! I wonder if this had any influence on his views on miracles, after all, what's the real difference between the two?
    What makes it even more interesting is how, in his works, he inclines against miracles:
    "(...)every faith founded on miracles and revelation must disappear; and philosophy takes its place.” a quote from Parerga and Paralipomena.

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      We might do a video on Schopenhauer's view on religion in the future. It's interesting

  • @smkh2890
    @smkh2890 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    If you substitute Arnold's WILL for ' Energie'. it all make sense !
    His pessimism makes me laugh, but we love him anyway !

  • @catsmews
    @catsmews 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    The woman on stage was planted? Did Schopenhauer find out afterwards somehow?

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Maybe. He never wrote anything else about the incident.

  • @kukukachu
    @kukukachu 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Magic is science only unexplained yet.

  • @CH4241
    @CH4241 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Interesting! What old film is the footage from?

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      A 1930 film called "The Wizard's Apprentice". It's a silent movie inspired by Goethe's poem "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Fitting because Schopenhauer was a huge Goethe fan. You can watch it here: th-cam.com/video/siHLAt_sqk8/w-d-xo.html .

  • @mr.lavander7145
    @mr.lavander7145 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    "Has puzzled readers for centuries"
    Published 185 years ago
    Good video, though. Yeah in Victorian times, people thought telekinesis, ESP, and communication with the dead could be the next frontier of science. After all, electricity was a newly-discovered phenomenon that was invisible, powerful, and pervaded the entire world. People thought psychic energy could be a similar phenomenon, or that electricity could be harnessed psychically.

  • @Kar-Kan
    @Kar-Kan 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    All philosophy of Shopenhauer is made "after observation (or fackt)" of world as representation.

  • @noahway13
    @noahway13 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in fairies. Many people here in US still believe in a god and angels and demons, and ghosts and goblins..

    • @wradford1990
      @wradford1990 ปีที่แล้ว

      Do you see such people as inferior to you ? As dirt beneath your feet ?

  • @stefdiazdiaz7067
    @stefdiazdiaz7067 ปีที่แล้ว

    maybe in that case it was a scam, but who knows, I left 1% open to the possibility for some type of "magic".

  • @anhumblemessengerofthelawo3858
    @anhumblemessengerofthelawo3858 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    _Yes. Not only do I "believe in" the tradition of Western Ceremonial Magic, I practice it._
    _So did a man called John Dee._
    _By the way, friend, I suggest reading the Ra Material (1981). You won't know what to think!_

  • @TAROTAI
    @TAROTAI 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Magic is a star being born - Jeo Ruv

  • @helium-379
    @helium-379 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Dude is overthinking it too much.

  • @owlnyc666
    @owlnyc666 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I am WILL Carter. There are scientists who believe in psychic power.

  • @paulklee5790
    @paulklee5790 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Sorry... A rather shallow and self limiting viewpoint, far too materialist in its conclusions. The universe is self evidently full of phenomena we do not yet understand and so without becoming over credulous a bit more humility in the light of our immense ignorance would not go amiss. It’s not that long ago scientists were claiming that ‘the end of science’ was at hand and that all was known, that didn’t pan out too well did it?

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I agree. But Schopenhauer was simply objectively wrong concerning the Italian magician.

  • @Sokofeather
    @Sokofeather 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Arthur originated the Alteration school.

  • @DeadEndFrog
    @DeadEndFrog 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    the dudes will to power tricked schoppenhauer weak will

  • @the_antiquark
    @the_antiquark ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Schopenhauer did not believe in magic or anything supernatural. This opposes his philosophy.

  • @krish1670
    @krish1670 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    But he equates belief in magic to stupidity
    "A stupid person has no insight into the connexion of natural phenomena, either when they appear of their own accord or when they are intentionally controlled, in other words made to serve machines. For this reason, he readily believes in magic and miracles."

  • @Firmus777
    @Firmus777 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I think this is unfair to Schopenhauer. Maybe magic is real. His bigger fault is that he was naive enough to accept a particular example of magic without question. And another fault is that he tries to give natural explanations (influence over the brain) for supernatural phenomena.

  • @satchitannands36
    @satchitannands36 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    How dare you say Magic is stupid ! C'mon man you simply don't know anything about it. You may try to read - The myth of Disenchantment by Joseph stormson

  • @Driftwoodgeorge
    @Driftwoodgeorge 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I guess he wasn't street smart.

  • @vincentblack7856
    @vincentblack7856 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    "Deficiency of understanding is called stupidity. It is just dulness in applying the law of causality, incapacity for the immediate apprehension of the concatenations of causes and effects, motives and actions. A stupid person has no insight into the connection of natural phenomena, either when they follow their own course, or when they are intentionally combined, i.e., are applied to machinery. Such a man readily believes in magic and miracles. A stupid man does not observe that persons, who apparently act independently of each other, are really in collusion; he is therefore easily mystified, and outwitted; he does not discern the hidden motives of proffered advice or expressions of opinion, &c. But it is always just one thing that he lacks-keenness, rapidity, ease in applying the law of causality, i.e., power of understanding."
    -Artur Shopenhauer "The World as Will and Presentation"

    • @polymathable
      @polymathable 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Thank you so much. This passage is what IMMEDIATELY came to mind during this video. Soo, did Schopenhauer fall for it?

  • @topercaker2646
    @topercaker2646 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Hmmm there is likely another layer there.

  • @satnamo
    @satnamo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Why is kickflip a trick on das skateboard ?
    Skateboarding is real magic!

    • @TAROTAI
      @TAROTAI 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      riding on a piece of wood and breaking your wrist or spraining your ankle?

  • @wormwoodcocktail
    @wormwoodcocktail ปีที่แล้ว +1

    2:13 I like that this is the same guy who thought women were stupid.

    • @polymathable
      @polymathable 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Honestly. Embarrassing!

    • @wormwoodcocktail
      @wormwoodcocktail 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@polymathable His mom scolding him was super cool and awesome. I hope he cried a lot because of things she said to him.

  • @frankie555
    @frankie555 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Nowadays it's called hypnosis.

  • @bizmogrowth9081
    @bizmogrowth9081 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Crunchy cookie? No way….chewy is way better.

  • @danielhopkins296
    @danielhopkins296 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Some unfair digs at ol Schoppy : the Mahayanists also believe in magic, why don't you consider their view?

    • @WeltgeistYT
      @WeltgeistYT  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      This video was a bit crass. We’ll release an updated version.

    • @danielhopkins296
      @danielhopkins296 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@WeltgeistYT great job and thnxs 🙏 for the feedback

  • @wormwoodcocktail
    @wormwoodcocktail ปีที่แล้ว

    Hell yeah dude

  • @gracefitzgerald2227
    @gracefitzgerald2227 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Reminds me when Sir Conan Doyle believed that fairies were actually photographed. Your videos are always interesting, thank you.

  • @michaeldamato9466
    @michaeldamato9466 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Just goes to show how smart he was..... not.

    • @Nemo-sz2qy
      @Nemo-sz2qy 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Newton believed in alchemy an other mumbo jumbo

    • @polymathable
      @polymathable 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@Nemo-sz2qy exactly what I thought.

  • @Manx123
    @Manx123 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Schopenhauer's metaphysics belong in the trash.

    • @Napoleonwilson1973
      @Napoleonwilson1973 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      No he’s correct

    • @Manx123
      @Manx123 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Napoleonwilson1973 If you really think there's a metaphysical will, independent of conscious beings, contrary to materialism or naturalism, there is something wrong with your thinking.

    • @Napoleonwilson1973
      @Napoleonwilson1973 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Manx123 not independent of conscious beings or a conscious being.

    • @Manx123
      @Manx123 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Napoleonwilson1973 Well, this is Schopenhauer's metaphysics: will being more fundamental than objective reality.

    • @Napoleonwilson1973
      @Napoleonwilson1973 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Manx123 he was in the right direction though if we substitute the word will for other phenomena then there is truth to it.

  • @polymathable
    @polymathable 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    "Deficiency of understanding is called stupidity. It is just dulness in applying the law of causality, incapacity for the immediate apprehension of the concatenations of causes and effects, motives and actions. A stupid person has no insight into the connection of natural phenomena, either when they follow their own course, or when they are intentionally combined, i.e., are applied to machinery. Such a man readily believes in magic and miracles. A stupid man does not observe that persons, who apparently act independently of each other, are really in collusion; he is therefore easily mystified, and outwitted; he does not discern the hidden motives of proffered advice or expressions of opinion, &c. But it is always just one thing that he lacks-keenness, rapidity, ease in applying the law of causality, i.e., power of understanding."
    -Artur Shopenhauer "The World as Will and Presentation"