For ten points, identify this philosopher who wrote The World as Will and Idea.
Born in 1788, he left home when his mother, a popular novelist, pushed him down a flight of stars.  He taught at Berlin and Jena, and then settled down in Frankfurt with his pet poodle who biographers now think may have been a really ugly cat.  His philosophy rejects idealism and combines the thought of Meister Ekhart and Jakob Bohme, and he had a signet ring made of the Sphinx tossing itself into the abyss because he believed he had solved all the riddles in the universe.  For ten points, identify this philosopher who wrote The World as Will and Idea.
Born in 1788, he left home when his mother, a popular novelist, pushed him down a flight of stars.  
Arthur Schopenhauer