ARTHUR
SCHOPENHAUER
By Darcy Gomez
THE MAN
 Lived from 1788-1860
 German
 Schopenhauer rejected most of his
predecessors in philosophy
 He only recognized two philosophers
• Kant
• Plato
 He also drew from some philosophies
of the East
THE WORLD AS IDEA
 There is the noumenal world outside of the mind
 He believed that the mind cannot know the real reality (noumenal
world)
 What we see as the world are only our perceptions
 Our perceptions are filtered through time, space, and finally our
mind until we see what we perceive
 Every perception is just a manifestation of the Will
EXAMPLE
THE WORLD AS THE WILL
 Schopenhauer believed in the Will
 The Will is the actual and ultimate reality of the world and ourselves
 It is “the-thing-in-itself ”
 We cannot know the Will itself but we every individual is a manifestation
of the Will
 The Will can be seen in every action of the body and impression on the
body (emotions, ect)
• Pain= impressions against the Will
• Pleasure= impressions in in agreement with the Will
NATURE OF THE WILL
 The Will is violent
 Every act (manifestation of the Will) is either an act of
procreation or destruction
 The mind is “self-deceiving” of the Will
• The real world is destructive and cruel but as we perceive things in
our minds it becomes distorted as good or neutral
EXAMPLES
 The Human Body
• Once we reach the age of 18 our body begins to
deteriorate
• The body is simply a vessel for reproduction
• Once we reproduce we continue to die
 Luna Moth
• The Moth is born to reproduce and digest, but has no
mouth
• It lays its eggs then starves to death
• Cycle continues
ULTIMATE REALITY
 There is no hope in life
 Happiness is unattainable
 Any arts, morals, or sciences are only
distortions of the will
• Seen as good, but are actually the
manifestation of the Will
 Suicide may seem like the perfect
escape, but suicide is just a final act of the
Will and thus another manifestation
ESCAPE FROM THE WILL
 There is only one way to counter the Will
 The only way is to dedicate yourself to pure formal music; music
without words or emotion
 To Schopenhauer this music was a type of Baroque style that was
purely “mathematical”
 Through this music you can escape from the world and escape the
Will
NO ESCAPE…
 Sadly other Philosophers say that wanting to dedicate yourself to
the music is just another desire and in turn a manifestation of the Will
 Even so, Schopenhauer’s philosophy helped influence future
philosophies