Ed. note: This is the twenty-first entry in a series looking at the three schools of philosophy for perspectives on navigating our modern world. Inspired by Emerson’s “The American Scholar,” we are exploring timeless wisdom which endures to inform our approaches to learning, relationships and leadership. Click here for all the posts in this series.
German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s main work, The World as Will and Idea, was published in 1818 (expanded in 1844 and 1859), and is the foundation of his system. It is comprised of four books, the first half of which he uses to establish the world as idea and will, respectively. The second half outlines aesthetics and ethics. Schopenhauer’s system is inherently devoid of purpose, and is a remarkable stance from the more popular thinkers of his time. Given his often pessimistic stance, it may be surprising to know he has influenced artists and thinkers alike.
“Life and dreams are leaves of the same book.”
Schopenhauer’s writings have become legendary because of his strong, opinionated style. He used insults liberally through his writing, some quite amusing. He has insulted thinkers, women, and most people in general. Consider for example, Schopenhauer’s thoughts on Hegel,
“Hegel, installed from above, by the powers that be, as the certified Great Philosopher, was a flat-headed, insipid, nauseating, illiterate charlatan who reached the pinnacle of audacity in scribbling together and dishing up the craziest mystifying nonsense.”
Book One: Epistemology
“The world is my idea.”
“As the world idea exists only through the understanding, so also it exists only for the understanding.”
“It is clear that the knowledge of cause and effect, as the universal form of understanding, belongs to all animals a priori, because to them as to us it is the prior condition of all perception of the outer world.”
“The world is entirely idea, as such demands the knowing subject as the supporter of its existence.”
“Perception …is the source of all truth and the foundation of all science.”
All reality is based on perception. This first book establishes that we understand the world through its appearance to us; objects ordered in time and space, and cause and effect relationships. Here, Schopenhauer is primarily concerned with satisfying the principle of sufficient reason, which states that every thing must have a reason or cause.
Book Two: Ontology
After establishing the world as idea, we move on to the concept of the world as will. This book embodies that most philosophical of notions: that if we look deeply enough within ourselves, we can make sense of the universe. There is only one thing in the entire universe presented to man in two ways – himself. We each know ourselves both in appearance and internally. First, we objectively see, smell, feel that our body exists. Secondly, we have thoughts and impulses which we act on, and see the outcomes and products of those actions.
Schopenhauer describes the will as the force from within which “gives the key to your own existence and shows the inner mechanism of being.”
“Every true, genuine, immediate act of will is also, at once and immediately, a visible act of the body.”
The whole body is will become idea, in that what we think, we physically perform. He continues that there must be some sort of will in the physical world, as well, claiming that every force in nature should be thought of as will. This duality present in us necessarily exists throughout the universe. The world is idea and the world is will.
In Schopenhauer’s system the act of the will and subsequent movement of the body are one and the same. Both demonstrate the will. He goes on to describe the forces of nature; gravity, magnetism, etc, as forms of will of the material world.
“Besides will and idea nothing is known to us or knowable.”
Books Three and Four: Aesthetics and Ethics, respectively
The second half of The World as Will and Idea develops the pessimism Schopenhauer is known for, contrasting with the affirmative descriptions of the first two books’ will and idea. Frighteningly, though the world has will, this will has no purpose and is merely ‘aimless striving’. There is no end, objective good or truth to be pursued. Existence, then, is utterly meaningless.
He describes the will as fundamentally impossible to satisfy, citing such desires as thirst, hunger, sexual drives which are never fully satisfied, and override reason. Because these pleasures never last, and our reason is sufficient to inform us of that fact, humanity is doomed to a life of unmet desire.
“…the purpose of our existence is not to be happy.”
His surprising suggestion to temporarily escape this miserable existence was in the contemplation of art. It seems that even a man who disavowed any purpose was capable of appreciating beauty and creativity.
Schopenhauer’s denial of meaning starkly contrasts with the Hegelian view that everything is continually improving toward a better, more beneficial purpose.
Hegel’s Optimistic Theory of the World Spirit
A frequent subject of Schopenhauer’s wrath was Friedrich Hegel, and his decidedly optimistic system of the world spirit. Schopenhauer and Hegel were contemporaries and wrote in a similarly academic style. Though both were heavily influenced by Kant, like all thinkers of the time, their similarities stop there. Schopenhauer found Hegel’s reconciliation of an omniscient God bringing about an optimistic end to existence cowardly, and impossible. Where Hegel’s virtue was concerned with the state, which was the only true source of good, Schopenhauer rests virtue with the individual.
Schopenhauer’s repulsion of Hegel was so deeply rooted that upon qualifying to lecture at the University of Berlin, he scheduled all his lectures for the same time as Hegel’s. Interestingly, Hegel’s optimistic theory of perpetual improvement proved so popular, Schopenhauer’s class never got off the ground! This helped fuel his ironic distaste for academia.
Historical Context:
Hegel’s outlook was influenced by his membership in the German upper class, which was influenced by the optimism of the Enlightenment. Also influenced by the French Revolution of 1789, many Germans were hopeful for more progressive representation. As uprising and revolution swept through Europe, these Hegelian ideals of progress were en vogue. Schopenhauer’s theories only became popular late in his life, and experienced a resurgence generations later in post-World War II France. Notably, after he published his theories, he never adjusted or changed them. The remainder of his life was spent clarifying and affirming them and receiving his admirers.
Schopenhauer’s influence can be widely seen today, in everything from Sartre and Nietzsche’s existentialism, to Freud’s theories, to visual artists and thinkers. Pessimistic thought at its best can encourage us to face problems with sober and unflinching honesty, much like Schopenhauer addressed his peers in life.
