The search for truth as defining criterion of the relation between philosophy and religion in the thought of Arthur Schopenhauer

This article deals with the relation established by Schopenhauer between philosophy and religion, having the search for truth as criterion. Schopenhauer understands timeless and unconditional truth to be the lodestar of philosophy, while religions are its allegorical and mythological representations. On the basis of this qualitative criterion, it is possible to scale religions as they approach or distance themselves from his metaphysical pessimism.