How did Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy influence later psychology and Sigmund Freud’s school?

Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy significantly influenced the development of modern psychology and the school of Sigmund Freud by shifting focus away from pure reason toward the irrational and the unconscious.12

While Schopenhauer is primarily known for his metaphysical doctrine of the will—which he described as a quasi-mystical, nonrational force underlying all reality—his ideas reached the field of psychology through specific intellectual channels. The connection to Freud and his school was established largely through the work of Eduard von Hartmann, who integrated Schopenhauer’s concepts into a formal philosophy of the unconscious, as well as through the influence of Schopenhauer’s disciple, Julius Bahnsen.31

By devaluing the intellect and emphasizing the power of intuition and the irrational, Schopenhauer’s work provided a foundational framework for later thinkers to explore the hidden, non-rational drivers of human behavior. His legacy remains a critical bridge between 19th-century philosophy and the emergence of psychoanalytic theory.312