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differently. It is one world, with two
aspects: Will and Representation.
This is most easily evidenced by our
bodies, which we experience in two
ways: we perceive them as objects
(Representations), and experience
them from within (as Will).
Schopenhauer says that an act
of will, such as wishing to raise my
arm, and the resulting movement,
are not in two different worlds—the
noumenal and phenomenal—but
the same event experienced in two
different ways. One is experienced
from inside, the other observed
from outside. When we look at
things outside ourselves, although
we see only their objective
Representation, not their inner
reality or Will, the world as a whole
still has the same simultaneous
outer and inner existences.
A universal Will
Schopenhauer uses the word “will”
to express a pure energy that has
no driving direction, and yet is
responsible for everything that
manifests itself in the phenomenal
world. He believes, like Kant, that
space and time belong in the
phenomenal world—they are
concepts within our minds, not
things outside of them—so the
Will of the world does not mark
time, or follow causal or spatial
laws. This means it must be
timeless and indivisible, and so
must our individual wills. It follows,
then, that the Will of the universe
and individual will are one and the
same thing, and the phenomenal
world is controlled by this vast,
timeless, motiveless Will.Eastern influence
At this point in his argument,
Schopenhauer’s pessimism shows
through. Where contemporaries
such as Hegel saw will as a positive
force, Schopenhauer sees humanity
at the mercy of a mindless, aimless
universal Will. It lies behind our
most basic urges, he insists, and
is what causes us to live lives of
constant disappointment and
frustration as we attempt to relieve
our cravings. For Schopenhauer, the
world is neither good nor bad, but
meaningless, and humans who
struggle to find happiness achieve
at best gratification and at worst
pain and suffering.
The only escape from this
miserable condition, according to
Schopenhauer, is nonexistence or
at least a loss of will for gratification.
He proposes that relief can be found
through aesthetic contemplation,
especially in music, which is the
one art that does not attempt to
represent the phenomenal world.
Schopenhauer’s philosophy here
echoes the Buddhist concept of
nirvana (a transcendent state free
from desire or suffering). He had
studied Eastern thinkers and
religions in great detail.
From his idea of one universal
Will, Schopenhauer develops a
moral philosophy that may be
somewhat surprising, considering
his otherwise misanthropic andARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
Schopenhauer studied the Hindu
Bhagavad Gita, in which Krishna the
charioteer tells Arjuna that a man is
a slave to his desires unless he can
free himself from his cravings.
pessimistic character. He realizes
that if we can recognize that our
separateness from the universe is
essentially an illusion—because all
our individual wills and the Will of
the universe are one and the same
thing—we can learn empathy with
everyone and everything else, and
moral goodness can arise from a
universal compassion. Here, again,
Schopenhauer’s thinking reflects
the ideals of Eastern philosophy.Lasting legacy
Schopenhauer was largely ignored
by other German philosophers in
his lifetime, and his ideas were
overshadowed by those of Hegel,
though he did have an influence
on writers and musicians. Toward
the end of the 19th century, the
primacy he gave to Will became
a theme in philosophy once more.
Friedrich Nietzsche in particular
acknowledged his influence, and
Henri Bergson and the American
pragmatists also owe something
to his analysis of the world as Will.
Perhaps Schopenhauer’s greatest
influence, however, was in the field
of psychology, where his ideas
about our basic urges and their
frustration influenced the
psychoanalytic theories of both
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. ■The fundament upon
which all our knowledge
and learning rests
is the inexplicable.
Arthur Schopenhauer