LUZVIMINDA M. MENDIOLA
Life of Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer (pronounced
SHO-pun-how-er) was a German philosopher and an important figure in the German
Idealism and Romanticism movements in the early 19th Century.
At the age of 5, Schopenhauer’s
family moved to Hamburg, Germany after Prussia invaded Danzig in
1793. Between 1797 and 1799 he spent a
long period living in France together with his father. They also lived in England, the Netherlands,
Switzerland and Austria. But in 1805 his
father died as a result of suicide.
Schopenhauer enrolled at the
University of Gottingen in 1809, where he focused on philosophy, studying the
ideas of Plato and Immanuel Kant. In 1819, Schopenhauer published The World as
Will and Representation (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung), which would
establish his career as a philosopher. Afterwards, he accepted a position at
the University of Berlin, where he initiated a rivalry with fellow lecturer
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. He devised an ill-fated plan to schedule his own
lectures to coincide with Hegel’s in an unsuccessful attempt to attract student
support away from Hegel. After the
failure of this plan, he dropped out of the academe and never taught at a
university again.
After the outbreak of a cholera
epidemic in Berlin in 1831, both Schopenhauer and Hegel moved away. Hegel
returned prematurely to Berlin, caught the infection, and died, but
Schopenhauer settled permanently in Frankfurt in 1833. He remained there for
the next twenty-seven years until his death, living alone except for a
succession of pet poodles, observing a strict daily routine and taking an
active interest in animal welfare. He continued to write and publish, including
"Über den Willen in der Natur" ("On the Will in Nature") in
1836, "Über die Freiheit des menschlichen Willens" ("On the
Freedom of the Will") in 1839, "Über die Grundlage der Moral"
("Based on Morality") in 1840, and a set of philosophical
reflections called "Parerga und Paralipomena" in 1851. He finally
received long-awaited recognition for his early works in the
1850s. He died peacefully of heart
failure on 21 September 1860 at the age of 72.
Schopenhauer’s
Pessimism
Arthur Schopenhauer is often
referred to as the philosopher of pessimism because pessimism is the most
well-known feature of his philosophy.
In “On the Sufferings of the World”
(1851), Schopenhauer confidently claims: “Unless suffering is the direct and
immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim.” This means suffering and misfortune are the
general rule in life, not the exception.
According to Schopenhauer, “Certain
it is that work, worry, labour and trouble, form a lot of almost all men their
whole life long. But if all wishes were fulfilled as soon as they arose, how
would men occupy their lives? What would they do with their time? If the world
were a paradise of luxury and ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where
every Jack obtained his Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would
either die of boredom or hang themselves; or there would be wars, massacres,
and murders; so that in the end mankind would inflict more suffering on itself
than it has now to accept at the hands of Nature.”
Schopenhauer presented various
thoughts and images meant to bring the reality of human suffering to the
forefront: a) that time walks on and we cannot stop it—it stops only when we
are bored; b) that we spend most of life working, worrying, suffering, and yet
even if all our wishes were fulfilled, c) in youth we have high hopes, but that
is because we don’t consider what is really in store for us—life, aging, and
death, d) it would be much better if the earth were lifeless like the moon;
life interrupts the “blessed calm” of non-existence; f) if two persons who were
friends in youth met in old age, they would feel disappointed in life merely by
the sight of each other; they will remember when life promised so much, in
youth, and yet delivered so little; g) “If children were brought into the world
by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist?” Schopenhauer argues that we should not impose
the burden of existence on children. Of his pessimism, he says:
“I shall be told … that my
philosophy is comfortless—because I speak the truth, and people prefer to be
assured that everything the Lord has made is good. Go to the priests, then, and
leave the philosophers in peace … do not ask us to accommodate our doctrines to
the lessons you have been taught. That is what those rascals of sham
philosophers will do for you. Ask them for any doctrine you please, and you
will get it.”
Schopenhauer even claimed, “You may
look upon life as an unprofitable episode, disturbing the blessed calm of
non-existence. And, in any case, even though things have gone with you
tolerably well, the longer you live the more clearly you will feel that, on the
whole, life is a disappointment, nay, a cheat.”
Schopenhauer disputes that non-human
animals are happier than human beings since happiness is basically freedom
from pain. The essence of this argument is that the bottom line for both human
and non-human animals is pleasure and pain which has as its basis the desire for
food, shelter, sex, and the like. Humans are more sensitive to both pleasure
and pain but have much greater passion and emotion regarding their desires.
This passion results from human beings' ability to reflect upon the past and
future, leaving them susceptible to both ecstasy and despair. Humans try to
increase their happiness with various forms of luxury as well as desiring
honour, other people's praise, and intellectual pleasures. But all of these
pleasures are accompanied by the constant increased desire and the threat of
boredom, a pain unknown to the brutes. Thought in particular creates a vast
amount of passion, but in the end, all of the struggle is for the same things
that non-human animals attain—pleasure and pain. But humans, unlike the
animals, are haunted by the constant spectre of death, a realization which
ultimately tips the scale in favour of being a brute. Furthermore, non-human
animals are more content with mere existence, with the present moment, than are
humans who constantly anticipate future joys and sorrows.
C. Conclusion
Schopenhauer’s attitude toward life
closely followed the thoughts of a great king who ruled Israel long ago – King
Solomon. In his book, Ecclesiastes, it
records what happened to that man who had everything. The author of Ecclesiastes had tasted just
about everything life has to offer. Wealth, Wisdom, Advancement and Fame. He sampled all of life’s powers and
pleasures, yet all eventually disappointed him.
All proved meaningless and worthless.
King Solomon asked – “What is the
point of life?” That was his
question. You work hard, and someone
else gets all the credit. You struggle
to be good, and evil people will take advantage of you. You accumulate money, and it just goes to
rotten heirs. You seek pleasure, and it
turns sour on you. And everyone – rich
or poor, good or evil – meets the same end…We all die. There is only one word to describe this
life: meaningless!
We may ask, “What is the purpose of
life anyway? Is there any crucial
meaning? Even a songwriter, after
listing life’s pleasure would ask, “Is that all there is?” Apart from God and
without any belief in an afterlife, you may conclude that life is meaningless.
Nevertheless, King Solomon gave some
words of hope in the latter part of his life, “Fear God and keep his
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). The positive message and lessons he learned
in life. In Matthew 16:26 Jesus said,
“What good it will be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his
soul?”
But since Schopenhauer is godless and does not believe in God, he would view life as totally meaningless.
References
Butler-Bowdown, T. (2013). 50 Philosophy
Classics. London: Nicholas Brealey .
Everett, D. (2015,). Schopenhauer' View. Retrieved
from http://www.monsalvat.no/mitleid.htm
Hubscher, A. (2012, ). Biography of
Schopenhauer. Retrieved from
http://www.bribiography.com/people/arthur-schopenhauer
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2011,
). Arthur Schopenhauer. Retrieved from
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schopenhauer/
No comments:
Post a Comment