“[Schopenhauer] points out that although in the outer world the majority would be ashamed to go around in a hat, coat, etc. that someone had discarded, this is not at all the case in matters of the mind. There everybody goes around in discarded clothing. Of course, the great mass of men have no opinion, but—now it comes! The journalists, who live by renting opinions, take care of this deficiency. Naturally, as Schopenhauer rightly adds, what they get is of the same quality generally found in the costumes rented out by the renters of masquerade costumes.”
Particularly in his late journals, Kierkegaard displays an affinity for the thought of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860). Given Schopenhauer’s avowed atheism, Kierkegaard’s interest may seem surprising, but it seems that the Dane was curious about the degree to which one ought to embrace metaphysical pessimism—a characteristic of Schopenhauer’s philosophy, paradigmatically expressed in The World as Will and Representation (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, 1818). Ultimately, Kierkegaard critiques Schopenhauer’s aesthetic “enjoyment” of suffering, while nevertheless appreciating his cynical reading of modern bourgeois culture. In this passage, Kierkegaard cites Schopenhauer as fellow critic of the rising mass media: what has been celebrated as an unparalleled freedom of expression is actually more like a shoddy business, making money by “renting” derivative and fake items to a frivolous public.