Surprising that 140 years of Schopenhauer's death there are still unpublished texts of his work and so valuable as that in a minute and almost detective work, the philosophy professor reconstituted Franco Volpi in a small manual of practical philosophy: Art to be happy. This is a hidden gem so far on the legacy of the philosopher, which invites us to educate our character through rules of conduct to help us avoid the hardship and blows of fate. From very young, Schopenhauer had a penchant for the literary genre of philosophical treatises small practice, and during the time he resided in Berlin liked to write short texts and notes for personal use; was born, for example, art to be right (eristic), published posthumously from his legacy. The fifty rules for life, including at various times were prepared and dispersed in different volumes and folders. Its incompleteness and the pessimism of Schopenhauer recognized are the main reasons that so far no one suspected an "art of happiness" among the writings of the philosopher. But just from the pessimistic conviction that human life holds no more disappointments, pain and boredom philosopher invites us to serve as a valuable tools that nature provides us: the gifts of wit and practical wisdom. Although our non-changeable looks, we can educate them with rules of conduct to help us avoid the hardship and blows of fate. In 1814, at age 26, the young philosopher found a near final design for the fundamental insight upon which to base their knowledge of life, ie, the negative conception of happiness understood as the mere absence of pain. In the philosophical reasons for this conception of nature joined biographical motivations. Under the pressure and the disappointments of his early years in Berlin, Schopenhauer was dedicated with a special intensity to the problem of the wisdom of life and since 1822 started targeting a regular basis and maximum sentences. The plan to design an "Art of Happiness" as a catalog of rules of behavior probably arose in connection with reading the manual Oracle Baltasar Gracian. Many of the rules of Schopenhauer reminiscent of the work of grace and even direct quotes are showing that Schopenhauer, when writing The art of being happy, the teacher had in mind the Spanish concept. With his discovery, Franco Volpi has offered a generous gift especially to Spanish culture and history of the reception of Spanish baroque thought by Schopenhauer.
philosophers, for readers interested in the thought of Schopenhauer and the general public that is attracted to writing about self-help, this time addressed from the rigors of philosophy.