This author used a conversation in the pit of La Scala as a metaphor in a discussion of the debate between theism and pantheism, the latter of which he argues “says nothing.” This philosopher proposed compassion as the source of morality in a long essay that an angry Hegelian (“huh-GAIL-ee-in”) rejected from a contest in which it was the only submission. In the first of the three volumes of his longest book, this author of On the Basis of Morality proposes a hierarchy of the arts in which he places music at the top. This philosopher claimed that, contra Leibniz, we live in the worst of all possible worlds in a book that also praises the Upanishads. For 10 points, name this German pessimist who wrote The World as Will and Representation. ■END■
ANSWER: Arthur Schopenhauer
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