The World as Will and Representation

The World as Will and Representation (original German title, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung; sometimes translated as The World as Will and Idea) is the central work of Arthur Schopenhauer and one of the most important philosophical works of the 19th century.

Schopenhauer's neverending point

The first volume was published in 1819 and the second volume in 1844. The first volume consisted of four books - covering his epistemology, ontology, aesthetics and ethics, in order. Schopenhauer's critique of language influenced Wittgenstein; he said that words were inaccurate substitutes for perception. He also criticised the scientific method as inappropriate for dealing with the questions of the nature of existence. In its place, he celebrated feeling and inner-experience. Aesthetics were praised as an expression of these feeling, which could never be achieved by dry argument or science. Music was given a special place and was seen as a copy of the will, whilst all other arts were seen as methods of giving knowledge the upper-hand over willing, that it is otherwise always denied.

Related Topics:
1819 - 1844 - Ontology - Wittgenstein - Scientific method - Aesthetics

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Schopenhauer's notion of the will comes from the Kantian things-in-itself – which was supposed to be objects outside of time and space, which could never be experienced or described. Schopenhauer pointed out that anything outside of time and space could not be differentiated, so the thing-in-itself must be one and we must all be part of it. Our inner-experience must be a manifestation of the noumena realm and the will is the inner kernal of every being. All knowledge gained of objects is seen as self-referential, as we recognise the same will in other things as is inside us. Book Two sees electricity and gravity described as fundamental forces of the will. Knowledge is something that was invented to serve the will and is present in both animals and humans. It is subordinate to the demands of the will for all animals and most men, but knowledge can dominate in aesthetic contemplation or in philosophy.

Related Topics:
Electricity - Gravity - Knowledge

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The ethics of Schopenhauer may appear, at first, to be similar to the sentimentalism of Hume, as he defines morality as identical to compassion and denies any link between reason and morality. However, he is much more metaphysical than Hume and he sees compassion as the bridge to eventual denial of the will. The will conflicts with itself through the egoism that every human and animal is endowed with. Compassion arises from a transcendence of this egoism (or: a penetration of the isolation of an "illusory" perception of individuality to participate in the suffering of another) and can serve as a clue to the possibility of going beyond desire and the will. Great art, including music and visual arts, is claimed to provide another experience of the suspension of the will, akin to pity/compassion, but only fractionally related to the "breaking" of the will through Asceticism. Schopenhauer categorically denies the existence of the "freedom of the will" in the conventional sense, and only adumbrates how the will can be "released" or negated, but is not subject to change, and serves as the root of the chain of causal determinism. His praise for asceticism led him to praise Buddhism and Vedanta Hinduism, as well as some monastic sects of Catholicism. He expressed contempt for Protestantism, Judaism and Islam, which he saw as optimistic, devoid of metaphysics and cruel to animals.

Related Topics:
Hume - Egoism - Asceticism - Causal - Determinism - Buddhism - Vedanta - Hinduism - Catholicism - Protestantism - Judaism - Islam - Metaphysics

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The book makes constant references to suicide in its examples – somewhat unnecessarily, at times. This was seen as an unacceptable way of escaping from the horrors of life, as the will still lives on afterwards and has not denied itself, as occurs in asceticism. Suicide is seen as a deed of the will, as it takes place to avoid physical pain – unlike asceticism. It was denied that suicide was immoral, however, as it was commonly thought to be, at the time.

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The second volume consisted of several essays expanding topics covered in the first. Most important are his reflections on death and his theory on sexuality, which saw it as a manifestation of the whole will making sure that it will live on and depriving humans of their reason and sanity in their longing for their loved ones. Whilst this has been much improved on since, his honesty on the subject is unusual for the time and the central role of sexuality in human life is now widely accepted. Less successful is his theory of genetics: he argued that humans inherit their will, and thus their character, from their fathers, but their intellect from their mothers and he provides examples from biographies of great figures to illustrate this theory; unfortunately for Schopenhauer, there has been no evidence in the science of genetics to back up his claims. Many feel put off by Schopenhauer for his attacks on contemporary philosophers such as Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, in this second volume.

Related Topics:
Death - Sexuality - Reason - Genetics - Fichte - Schelling - Hegel

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