ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1861) Metaphysics of the Will Is life sufferin g or not?
SCHOPENHAUER´S NON-CONFORMITY
S. doesn´t belong to his present age, but anticipates the future. Why?...
Berlin (1818 ca.) HEGEL : Reality appears perfectly transparent to Reason Optimistic vision of reality and history as a gradual progress towards the highest stage of its development
#Berlin: (1818) SCHOPENHAUER wrote“Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung” (The World as Will and
Representation ) is the beginning of the CRISIS (break with the past) that characterizes 1900 .
S. doesn´t share Hegel´s optimistic and rational vision of the world, thus non conforming himself to the predominant thought of the time.
CULTURAL ROOTS OF HIS SYSTEM
• from PLATO dualism reality / appearance ; theory of ideas
• From KANT dualism phenomena / noumeno ; a priori forms
• From ROMANTICISM importance of art and music; the idea of an absolute principle which manifests itself in different beings and realities; idea of suffering
• From ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY the concept of Nirvana; Maya
KANT´s philosophy : SCHOPENHAUER´S starting point
KANT The phenomenon is the only
knowable reality . It is the object of representation that exists outside conscience .
The phenomenon can be known through a priori forms (empirical knowledge)
The noumenon cannot be known (concept of limit)
reality in itself is unknowable. We can know only the phenomenal world
A priori forms are: space – time – categories
SCHOPENHAUER The phenomenon is an illusion , a
lie, only appearance.
The noumenon is knowable , “it is inside us”: it is the Will
A priori forms of cognition in our mind are : space – time - causality
“The World as my Representation / Idea”
Representation(or veil of Maya= phenomenon)Illusiory appearanceIS MADE UP OF:
SUBJECT of representation : that knows everything without being known by anything – activity that produces the representation
OBJECT of the representation: what is known – the thing really existing
Basing itself on A priori forms:-SPACE compared to multifaceted -TIME glasses producing a CAUSALITY DEFORMED vision
Representation = Phenomenon is a deformed and deceiving illusion
SUBJECT and OBJECT are INSEPARABLE; they do not exist on their own, but only in their relationship Knowledge
The Gateway to the Noumenon = the thing in itself- the reality that lies behind the phenomenon (Will)
• According to S. “Life is a dream” (see also Veda) Reality (= phenomenon=representation) is a deceiving optical illusion
the visible and tangible world is only the VEIL OF MAYA
• BEYOND phenomenal reality lies the REAL REALITY the blind metaphysical WILL
MAN is a metaphysical being who questions himself on the
ultimate essence of life
The Gateway to the Noumeno (Will)How can we pierce the Veil of Maya?...
MAN is made up ofa BODY
that allows to
see oneself from the outside, perceiving the body as an object among others
live oneself from the inside: enjoying and suffering
• our BODY is the external manifestation of our internal desires- we are both Life and Will to Life•Through our body we feel pleasure and pain •By reflecting on ourselves we realize that our deep essence is the Will to Life•The need to go beyond the phenomenon arises from a practical need : to overcome pain
The Will to Life• Phenomenal world the manifestation / ojectivation of
the Will # The Will the ultimate essence of everything, reality itself
The Will to Life
Secret essence: a force that pervadesthe whole reality
Illogical and irrational : blind dynamic forceUnique: it exists
outside space and time
Purposeless: it hasn´t got an aim nor a target. It wants only itself
Eternal: beyond the form of time. It has no end and no beginning
It has different forms and different degrees of consciusness- in man it´s fully conscious
Life is Suffering, because Life is Willing
Life is willing (manifestation of an infinite Will) this means longing but our desires are
never fulfilled willing and desires spring from lack and deficiency desire=lacking
this produces SUFFERING
willing = desiring/wanting = tension due to lacking = suffering
Universal Pessimism• SUFFERING : it´s the universal, structure of life; it´s incessant .
It can take different forms and it is not necessarily followed by happiness.
• What is HAPPINESS?: it is really only a temporary cessation of some particular suffering.
• BOREDOM: feeling of apathy, emptiness that comes when desiring is interrupted.
awareness of a universal pessimism that involves all creatures.
pain boredom
MAN suffers the most because he has the highest consciousness. The GENIUS suffers the most beacuse he is the most sensitive
Unmasking Illusions
• LOVE: it is only an impulse to procreation in order to perpetuate the species
• The world is not a perfect and rational organism (# Leibnitz)
• People live together because of need• Human relationships are based on conflicts and
reciprocal subjugation
Criticism of optimistic and consoling visions S. as one of the “masters of suspicion” (as Nietzsche, Freud)
The Ways of Release from suffering
• SUICIDE: it is not negation of Will but a negation of Life. If man commits suicide, he doesn´t free himself from Will . The very will to commit suicide is itself the manifestation of the blind Will.
VOLUNTAS (Will to life) must be replaced by NOLUNTAS (No Will)
There are three ways of release from suffering:1. Through the aesthetic way : ART2. Through the ethical way: SYMPATHY (ethics of compassion –
Mitleidethik)3. ASCETICISM - Nirvana
The Ways of Release from suffering1. ART: It is a form of free and disinterested knowledge that can
elevate to the contemplation of ideas MUSIC is the highest form of art. It can put man in direct
contact with the essence of life, disenchanted contemplation of pure forms
Art is a “catharsis”: man elevates himself over time and Will
However, ARTcan give only a transitory release
The Ways of Release from suffering
2. PIETAS : ethical sympathy with the other beings that suffer like us
This means taking care of other people´s suffering, thus identifying oneself with the other
Compassion (pity) # egoismMorality exemplifies itself in ethical actions such as:- Justice : not hurting- Àgape : disinterested love
However, both ART and COMPASSIONmean an attachment to life
Therefore they do not free from suffering
The third way: Ascetism - NirvanaSchopenhauer says that the more intense the willing, the more intense
the suffering. The questions is: How to diminish the intensity of one's willing?The answer is: practice denying the will and what it wants
(Greek: Askesis)
Ascetism means the practice of deliberating acting against what the will wants. It implies denying the Will (NOLUNTAS) and represents the total liberation from it.
NIRVANA : the experience of nothingness; the negation of the world in order to attain a reign of peace and serenity where the self dissolves.
Glossary of useful words
• Phenomenon: illusion ; the material world of the senses
• Noumenon: a thing as it is in itself
• Thing-in-itself: Noumenon• Will: volontá• Nothingness: il niente• unfulfilled: (adj) not satisfied• Lack: (also verb – to lack)
absence
• Longing: (also verb – to long) strong desire
• Boredom: noia – ennui (French word)
• Pain: suffering• Knowable : that can be
known (conoscibile)• Deceiving: ingannevole• Release: liberation (from…)