Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer

German Philosopher Famous for The World as Will and Representation

Sep 29, 2009

German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, known for his own concept of noumena, post-Kantian phenomena, and the world made-up of desires and ideas.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1869) may be branded a pessimistic German philosopher, but he has interesting ideas that contributed to the overall system of Western philosophy. His best work, The World as Will and Representation, is an exploration of some key Kantian themes combined with Eastern philosophy, in particular, the teachings of the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas and the Upanishads.

Schopenhauger in Relation to Kant and Hegel

Like his colleague Hegel, to whom he is said to have taken a bitter dislike while they both taught at the University of Berlin, Schopenhauer takes as his starting idea that things-in-themselves are unknown, the very reality of Kantian metaphysics.

Schopenhauer, unlike Hegel, accepts Kant's idea of the world divided into two - the noumena and phenomena. While he agrees with Kant about phenomena serving as a representation (ideas), they differ in the way they perceive the noumena of things.

Kant believes that noumena are "things-in-themselves" but Schopenhauer defines it as "will" (desires and drives.) Schopenhauer argues there's a way to explain it – that within a human being there is a subterranean passage of the real inner nature of things which cannot be penetrated from without.

Schopenhauer's Philosophy

Schopenhauer explains that the subterranean passage of the will is found by realizing that "we ourselves are also among those entities we require to know, that we ourselves are the thing-in-itself." He further argues that his view is implicit in Kant's work but one he overlooked.

The subjective "I" is only revealed in the world of phenomena, so it can't be this that constitutes a person's real essence, that "thing-in-itself" and one's real essence is will, which is revealed to the subjective self immediately and non-conceptually.

Somehow, Schopenhauer never really explains what this immediate awareness consists, except that the will is not something that belongs to the individual, but a universal striving force manifest in the individual by its insatiable desire to reveal itself in the world of appearances.

Nietzsche later exalts this idea of will, but Schopenhauer does not see the will as something to be glorified, but rather, to be resisted. He argues that people are at the mercy of the will, which is also the cause of pains when demands become one's master. .

Schopenhauer's Ways to Overcome Will

How then can one overcome the will? Schopenhauer believes that a way to do it is through contemplation of the arts, and in particular, of music. For it is in music and the arts that humans can contemplate on universal will, apart from an individual's strivings.

He claims that the universal will is eternal, and the individual lives are not to be valued since it is will's desire to exist in a world of appearances that gives rise to individual existence, and consequently, sufferings. His critics point out that his view leads to justification of suicide. Schopenhauer tries to circumvent this by claiming that suicide is an act of the will only when the intellect surrenders.

Works by Arthur Schopenhauer

The copyright of the article Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer in Great Philosophers is owned by Tel Asiado. Permission to republish Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.