Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher who was best known for
his book, The World as Will and Representation. He believed our world is driven
by a displeased will that continually seeks satisfaction. He was an atheist
that believed in transcendental ideality. He influenced many thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Wagner, and
Sigmund Freud.
Schopenhauer could never agree with
Hegel. He thought Hegel’s philosophy was nonsense. He even requested that all
his lectures take place at the same time as Hegel’s. He thought we were all
caught up in a hopeless cycle of wanting things, getting them, and then wanting
more things. He thought that if we could recognize the true nature of reality,
we would behave very differently and avoid these depressing features of the
human condition. A lot of his inspiration for his philosophy came from Buddha,
but also Kant.
He
believed reality had two aspects: Will and Representation. Will is the driving
force in everything that exists. The World as Representation is the world as we
experience it. Schopenhauer’s World as Representation was the same as Kant’s
phenomenal world. It believes your consciousness makes sense of the world
around you. However, Schopenhauer believed that there was a deeper reality that
exists beyond our experiences, or the World as Will. He believed this world as
a single, unified, directionless force behind everything that is. We could see
this world through our actions and through our experience of art. He thought
that Will was just a meaningless force that we are a part of.
He believed
strongly in how art and music improved our lives. To him we were all part of
one energy force and that an individual only exists in the World as
Representation. So, to Schopenhauer, hurting another was actually hurting
yourself. It would destroy part of the life force that ties us all together. We
are all linked to each other in the World as Will. However, his morals seemed a
little offset, because he got annoyed with an old woman and pushed her down the
stairs.
Schopenhauer
didn't believe that what we may experience was truly the real reality. I can’t
agree with that. Experience is something we live through and I believe it is as
real as it gets. He seemed like a really shallow person. He was ultimately
jealous of Hegel and he was cruel enough to push a woman down the stairs,
eventually leading to her death, because she annoyed him. I agree with his view
that hurting others hurts yourself, but it’s hard to prove that Schopenhauer
himself actually believed in that. I mean who pushes an old lady down the
stairs if you believe it will hurt your own nature force. Overall, he was a negative person, which I can
slightly relate to. Yet, his negativity makes me doubt a lot of his ideas and
philosophy.
In fairness, how many of us manage to align our beliefs and actions perfectly? That's the great challenge of all philosophy, isn't it To make a constructive practical difference in our lives. S, to his credit (and in contrast to many other ph'ers), did at least have elements in his philosophy worth aspiring to.
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