Find out in 3 minutes! Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation

2023年08月31日

世界中に影響を与え、長年読み継がれている古典的名作です。そこには今日の問題や疑問に対する普遍的な答えが含まれています。ただし、理解するのが非常に難しいものもあり、理解する前に挫折してしまう人も少なくありません。そんな読者には「読めない難しい本がわかる本」をおすすめします。「難解な古典の本質をわかりやすく解説し、好評を博しているロングセラー。今回はショーペンハウアーの『意志と表象としての世界』について解説します。」(English) It is a classic masterpiece that has influenced the world and has been read for many years. It contains universal answers to today's problems and questions. However, some of it is very difficult to understand and many are frustrated before they can get through it. We recommend "Books that help you understand difficult books you can't get through" for such readers. "This long-selling book has been well received for its easy-to-understand explanations of the essence of difficult classics. I will explain Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation in this article.

Find out in 3 minutes! Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation

It is a classic masterpiece that has influenced the world and has been read for many years. It contains universal answers to today's problems and questions. However, some of it is very difficult to understand and many are frustrated before they can get through it. We recommend "Books that help you understand difficult books you can't get through" for such readers. "This long-selling book has been well received for its easy-to-understand explanations of the essence of difficult classics. I will explain Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation in this article.

The world begins as a representation of "I". There is something behind this representation, but "I'' cannot know about it. I only know there is a natural feeling of 'will' in 'I'. So the principle of the world is "will"?

Reason is good, but don't forget the power of "desire"!

The book begins with the passage, "The world is my representation". A better way to paraphrase this passage is to see the world as your theatre.

Schopenhauer believes that if you look closely at this "self-theatre", there is a proper division between subjectivity and objectivity.

Subjectivity is the bearer of the world and the fundamental field that is the premise of all phenomena. "That which knows everything and is not known by anything is the subject 'I.'". It is defined as "the subjective can never be objective".

The philosophical theory that perceives the world from such a subjective point of view is called idealism. Furthermore, Schopenhauer argues that subjectivity is "mediated by the body".

The body is given to the subject of perception in two ways: we perceive our bodies internally and externally.

For example, we cannot directly know the inside of a cup as an objective object (we can't be in the position of the cup). This is true of any entity.

But there is one object that is an exception: it's your body. If you are an object called the body (objective thing), you can see your hands and feet from the outside, and at the same time, you can directly know the sensations and desires (all collectively expressed as well) observed from the inside.

So, the body alone is the same thing that can be observed in two very different ways (subjective and objective).

This world is itself endless suffering.

Schopenhauer calls this subjective power captured from the will. You can see that the desire to see is manifested in the form of "eyes", the desire to hear is "ears", the desire to eat is "mouth", and the desire to grasp is "hands".

But this "will" is a "blind will to live" without reason. There is no end to "I want this, I want that".

In The World as Will and Representation, it is described that all plants and animals have such a will (even inanimate objects act voluntarily).

And unfortunately, no matter how complex the will is, it never achieves an end. This is because it will manifest itself as a perpetual force that never ends (e.g. it never ends because when you are complete, you are hungry again and want to eat).

However, this phenomenal world is regulated and recognised by time and space and various laws of cause and effect. In this finite world, infinite will can only be suppressed.

Therefore, in this book, "life is agony" and "this world is the worst world".

No matter how hard people try, their efforts are continually thwarted, and they are continuously troubled. This is not the person's fault, but the world's basic structure is faulty, and nothing can be done about it.

There is always war because the will wants infinitely, and the world is finite. Because of the structure of this world, it is preached that there will never be an end to slaughter and war.

Art is recommended as a way to escape the suffering of this life, but it is only effective as a sedative and is not a fundamental solution.

Therefore, this book concludes that while having "doku" (sympathy) to share the suffering of others as a painkiller for torture, the "will" itself is extinguished, and the root cause of suffering is removed. It is.

It is a method of eradicating the will by earnestly doing 'abstinence'. It's not very practical, but somehow, this book alleviates the pain of life.