This is one of greatest Philosophers of all time, Most undergraduate programs in Philosophy forget this great writer we hardly ever read any of his great work, he was a brilliant poet and a brilliant successor of both Kant, and Hegel. In my opinion, he has truly destroyed the Kantian and Hegelians systems and we must remember it is Schopenhauer that WAKE'S Nietzsche up from the storm... it is Schopenhauer that teaches Nietzsche to dance with Dionysus and to bring chaos into the heart of philosophy, This is an essay and a account of Schopenhauer's system, enjoy!!!
Schopenhauer can be identified as the ultimate pessimist, one that stated the bold comment that life itself is...“the worst of all possible worlds” (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008). Schopenhauer saw the very roots of existence as “A business that, simply doesn’t cover its costs” (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008). Human happiness is an illusion and life itself is a wretched existence (Schopenhauer p.95).
According to Schopenhauer, all of humanity can be reduced down to desiring machines. This desiring machine is like a drug addict always searching and acquiring for another fix, only to strive for another; and thus be constantly stuck in an endless cycle of fulfilling its selfish needs and wants (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008). Each second that passes by, is a decaying of self, which is approaching its death (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008). Humans, being mortal, have no value because our finite life prevents us from lasting through eternity.
According to Schopenhauer, the only things that have value are items that last forever, and since human life has a specific time and duration that is finite; and not infinite are lives have no intrinsic meaning what so ever (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008). Schopenhauer states that life slips through our fingers like sand in an hour glass. Each and every second our lives, are constantly fleeting, dissipating, and being annihilated (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008)
According to Schopenhauer we must be fully aware of the meaninglessness that surrounds us. The boredom that we feel from time to time is a constant reminder of how empty we are, and how our existence is a mistake (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008) Everything we know and love in the world will be gone and come to a crashing halt. We are constantly on the go and stuck in our daily routines, and this is the dreadful reality of life, a reality where there is no rest and there is no finality to anything (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008)
The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate Schopenhauer’s claims and to determine if existence is intrinsically valueless. I will attempt to investigate into his account that existence can be identified as change, unrest, decay, frustration and boredom and whether there is a sufficient reason behind holding such a pessimistic account. If these claims prove to be valid, then the question is whether it is at all possible to find any meaning or value in our lives? These are the matters that will be discussed.
Schopenhauer states that the vanity in life expresses the totality of all existent things (Schopenhauer p.95). Vanity remains present in all things; it is even present in the infinite nature of time and space; and in every passing moment on Earth (Schopenhauer p.95). It can also be identified as a real mode of existence (Schopenhauer p.95). It can be defined as disseminating expressions that are clearly seen in all of our actions, including the desire of wishing for new things, and our feelings of dissatisfaction (Schopenhauer p.95). Vanity penetrates all human life and serves as the antagonist that causes the battles in historical accounts of our lives (Schopenhauer p.95). It causes that harsh difficulties we face in our daily routine and remains as the obstacles that need to be overcome (Schopenhauer p.95).
Time is the feature where all things pass on and away. It is the awkward becoming without ever truly being (Schopenhauer p.95). Schopenhauer states that time is a paradox as it passes by us… “It is merely the form under which the ‘will to live’-the thing-in-itself and therefore imperishable- has revealed to it, and us, that are efforts are in vain; and it is that agent by which every moment that all things in our hands become as nothing, and loose any real value they possess”(Schopenhauer p.95).
What this quote is saying about time is as follows, that a time that passes ceases to exist, because in that moment it has already passed us. This moment in time thus becomes insignificant in the grand scheme of things (Schopenhauer p.95). It’s as if it had never existed at all. Schopenhauer’s point is to draw a connection in the metaphor of time with human beings. We are here for such a short time, and our time passes us so quickly, everything that had meaning to us in that specific time of our life is now meaningless and has lost its intrinsic value. It is us that will one day become insignificant; it is us that will one day become obsolete, because of every passing moment in our lives (Schopenhauer p.95).
The big picture in all of this is the universe. The universe has exited for millions of years and will continue to exist for millions of years; we are a tiny speck in the mass of the whole universe. When we all pass away we shall return to the state of non-existence that had occurred prior to our absurd existence, which sprung us out as a cosmic fluke (Schopenhauer p.95). It is this certain truth that Schopenhauer thinks that the human heart cannot grasp (Schopenhauer p.95). Schopenhauer wants to stress the importance of time and space here, and how it plays an important role in metaphysics and how it aids our comprehension in understanding the aforementioned point (Schopenhauer p.95).
Schopenhauer states… “That of every event in our lives we say only for the moment that it is; For ever after that it was. Every evening we are poorer by day” (Schopenhauer p.95). It is here in this quote that Schopenhauer is pointing out that it would make people insane if they knew the real truth about life. Life is like a blink of an eye, one second here, one second there, and the next it is gone. This is why he states that every second this short span of life fades away before our very eyes (Schopenhauer p.95).
Schopenhauer has a certain sarcastic tone as the rest of the discourse continues. He states that any great wisdom amounts to us making the best out of life, and this consists in enjoyment, and enjoyment of the present.
This moment is our only reality (Schopenhauer p.95). Just as we are left with one positive remark, Schopenhauer rocks this thesis with an antithesis and flips this statement back into his lethal pessimistic attack; each second brings us closer to our death, so the idea of great wisdom is also the greatest error. Every passing moment of our life that emerges, also fades and withers simultaneously… “Vanishes utterly like a dream, and can never be worth a series effort” (Schopenhauer p.95). There is a motion to life, a movement which is dependent upon our existence and that is, that our present life is always fleeting.
Life is fleeting because we are always in a constant rush, a steady flow, a constant motion where none of us can reach that rest we need, and are aiming for. Schopenhauer gives us an example of how restful life is this is an explicit example of the fleeting and motion that never rests (Schopenhauer p.95). It is, imagine a man who is running down a giant hill who cannot stop his legs from moving, the downward pull of the hill is constantly pushing and pulling him, this makes his running even more intense, he must keep running onward. If he stops the movement or if he stops this action of running, he will fall and plunge to his utter death. His body and legs become dependent on this constant motion and movement, this pull which is like a driving force. He must keep running, in hopes of keeping his legs on, and in fear of stopping and falling.
So the man is forced to keep this pace, to forever be a slave to this motion and to running down the hill (Schopenhauer p.95). This example sounds exactly like ‘The Myth of Sisyphus.’ Sisyphus who angered the gods was punished for all eternity, thus he was forced to roll a boulder up a hill, and he got to the very top of the hill he would watch in horror as the boulder fell back down, an endless cycle (Camus p.110). If we think about the example of the man running down the hill who can’t stop running, Schopenhauer uses this example to spell out that unrest becomes the ultimate sign of existence (Schopenhauer p.95). Schopenhauer states…“That all is unstable and nothing can endure, but is swept onwards at once in the hurrying whirlpool of change” (Schopenhauer p.95). This life of unrest is followed by a moment of change, and then another moment of change, which proceeded the last moment and this continuous model governs the steady alterations of life (Schopenhauer p.95). These constant changes makes the goal of a happy life, never fully attainable, happiness slips through our fingers like butter, impossible to hold (Schopenhauer p.96).
Human beings in a sense, according to Schopenhauer, are stuck in a complex desiring cycle; every moment that passes we are always in need of something else. Each moment of our life is devoted to attaining one specific thing, and when we have it we don’t want it anymore, we want something new. We are stuck in this sad pathetic state of being a slave to our desires and our needs (Schopenhauer p.96). There is always something new to attain and the more we receive, from these desires, the farther the cycle is interwoven in us. We never fully reach any of our goals, and this constant desiring cycle only makes room for an end, in disappointment (Schopenhauer p.96). In the bitter end it doesn’t matter whether we are happy or miserable, Schopenhauer states that life is nothing but a series of constant moments, vanishing before our eyes (Schopenhauer p.96).
According to Schopenhauer life, in general; and organic life as a whole could not exist with out the perpetual, continuous, change of matter (Schopenhauer p.96). In Schopenhauer’s own words this process is ‘the realm of finality’ and it’s exact opposite is that of the infinite (Schopenhauer p.96). An infinite existence would not be prone to the external forces of the world and attacked. An infinite existence would not need anything for survival; it wouldn’t have any dependencies on anything the reversal is humanities curse (Schopenhauer p.96). Man’s existence however, is finite and humanity does depend on internal and external forces. Life as finite begins and ends at the same time, this makes Schopenhauer conclude that life has no meaning and is valueless (Schopenhauer p.96). What remains from Schopenhauer’s dreary picture is thus a denial of ‘the will to live’, and this clears the path for humanity, to come to terms with the real truth about our existence (Schopenhauer p.96).
According to Schopenhauer life is a restless motion, driven by two prime impulses, our hunger and our sexual drives (Schopenhauer p.96). Schopenhauer states that these two-fold states-hunger and sexual impulses- are guided by the immense influence of boredom.
Schopenhauer states that our life is like watching, the scenes of everything we have done organized in an obscure painting (Schopenhauer p.96). If we have our face pressed against the painting we miss the subtleties of life’s effect. No beautify can be present unless we take a step back to be able to see the painting in its entirety (Schopenhauer p.96). To gain anything from this experience is to come to terms with everything and to realize that what we have longed for and discovered is filled with vanity and emptiness (Schopenhauer p.96).
This is Schopenhauer’s main point that… “we are always living in the expectation of better things and at the same time we repent and long to have the sacred past again” (Schopenhauer p.96). It is through our chronic nostalgia for the past that lets our present life go by us, and slip away (Schopenhauer p.96). We get stuck in a specific time, and disregard the present life which becomes no longer enjoyable and full of regret (Schopenhauer p.96). However, we may try to strive towards a single hope, but then it’s already too late and death comes calling on us (Schopenhauer p.96).
According to Schopenhauer man lays seeds of desire everywhere (Schopenhauer p.96). What these seeds grow into and blossom are none other, then a set of desires, which in turn produce more desires, and there is no end to these specific desires and certainly no end to our individual will (Schopenhauer p.96). Our will in his words is…“The lord of all worlds” (Schopenhauer p.96). Everything and every property of ourselves are given over to this will (Schopenhauer p.96). Our very own self belongs to the will, and there are never any feelings of satisfaction only the constant drive to engulf the endless totality of the world (Schopenhauer p.96). This will doesn’t get everything it wants only a certain amount of things and this is why we are plagued by misery.
Schopenhauer states that there are some necessary task’s in life. The first is earning a living, which amounts to working everyday (Schopenhauer p.97). By doing this act we face an on going constant burden (Schopenhauer p.97). Life seems like a constant triviality, and this leads to boredom (Schopenhauer p.97). Man must fight against boredom this is the second task we are faced with, coping with the boredom in our lives (Schopenhauer p.97).
According to Schopenhauer man is a multiplicity of needs, wants and necessities. Sometimes these needs and necessities are fulfilled, but it is at the moment when we realize that the sudden urge is no longer there and we have kept pain away, an uncanny felling lies present with us, it is boredom (Schopenhauer p.97). Even in the moment of being fully satisfied we still feel the presence of boredom (Schopenhauer p.96). This is where Schopenhauer concludes that life has no meaning at all and is utterly valueless (Schopenhauer p.96). If boredom still remains present even after a time of satisfaction then there is really nothing to life in the first place. Boredom becomes the feeling of absolute emptiness (Schopenhauer p.97). This whole ideology adds to the illusion of life what exactly are we struggling for? Absolutely, nothing; Humanity is caught up in an existence that is vain and utterly empty (Schopenhauer p.97). In Schopenhauer’s closing statements he concludes with a poetic destruction of mankind… “ The generation of men as they live their little mock hour of existence and then are swept away in rapid succession; if we turn from this, and look at life in its small details as presented, say in a comedy, how ridiculous it all seem!”(Schopenhauer p.97). He finally states that life is utterly a mistake.
According to Schopenhauer, all of humanity can be reduced down to desiring machines. This desiring machine is like a drug addict always searching and acquiring for another fix, only to strive for another; and thus be constantly stuck in an endless cycle of fulfilling its selfish needs and wants (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008). Each second that passes by, is a decaying of self, which is approaching its death (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008). Humans, being mortal, have no value because our finite life prevents us from lasting through eternity.
According to Schopenhauer, the only things that have value are items that last forever, and since human life has a specific time and duration that is finite; and not infinite are lives have no intrinsic meaning what so ever (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008). Schopenhauer states that life slips through our fingers like sand in an hour glass. Each and every second our lives, are constantly fleeting, dissipating, and being annihilated (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008)
According to Schopenhauer we must be fully aware of the meaninglessness that surrounds us. The boredom that we feel from time to time is a constant reminder of how empty we are, and how our existence is a mistake (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008) Everything we know and love in the world will be gone and come to a crashing halt. We are constantly on the go and stuck in our daily routines, and this is the dreadful reality of life, a reality where there is no rest and there is no finality to anything (Lecture notes from Professor David Jopling on Thursday October 16th, 2008)
The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate Schopenhauer’s claims and to determine if existence is intrinsically valueless. I will attempt to investigate into his account that existence can be identified as change, unrest, decay, frustration and boredom and whether there is a sufficient reason behind holding such a pessimistic account. If these claims prove to be valid, then the question is whether it is at all possible to find any meaning or value in our lives? These are the matters that will be discussed.
Schopenhauer states that the vanity in life expresses the totality of all existent things (Schopenhauer p.95). Vanity remains present in all things; it is even present in the infinite nature of time and space; and in every passing moment on Earth (Schopenhauer p.95). It can also be identified as a real mode of existence (Schopenhauer p.95). It can be defined as disseminating expressions that are clearly seen in all of our actions, including the desire of wishing for new things, and our feelings of dissatisfaction (Schopenhauer p.95). Vanity penetrates all human life and serves as the antagonist that causes the battles in historical accounts of our lives (Schopenhauer p.95). It causes that harsh difficulties we face in our daily routine and remains as the obstacles that need to be overcome (Schopenhauer p.95).
Time is the feature where all things pass on and away. It is the awkward becoming without ever truly being (Schopenhauer p.95). Schopenhauer states that time is a paradox as it passes by us… “It is merely the form under which the ‘will to live’-the thing-in-itself and therefore imperishable- has revealed to it, and us, that are efforts are in vain; and it is that agent by which every moment that all things in our hands become as nothing, and loose any real value they possess”(Schopenhauer p.95).
What this quote is saying about time is as follows, that a time that passes ceases to exist, because in that moment it has already passed us. This moment in time thus becomes insignificant in the grand scheme of things (Schopenhauer p.95). It’s as if it had never existed at all. Schopenhauer’s point is to draw a connection in the metaphor of time with human beings. We are here for such a short time, and our time passes us so quickly, everything that had meaning to us in that specific time of our life is now meaningless and has lost its intrinsic value. It is us that will one day become insignificant; it is us that will one day become obsolete, because of every passing moment in our lives (Schopenhauer p.95).
The big picture in all of this is the universe. The universe has exited for millions of years and will continue to exist for millions of years; we are a tiny speck in the mass of the whole universe. When we all pass away we shall return to the state of non-existence that had occurred prior to our absurd existence, which sprung us out as a cosmic fluke (Schopenhauer p.95). It is this certain truth that Schopenhauer thinks that the human heart cannot grasp (Schopenhauer p.95). Schopenhauer wants to stress the importance of time and space here, and how it plays an important role in metaphysics and how it aids our comprehension in understanding the aforementioned point (Schopenhauer p.95).
Schopenhauer states… “That of every event in our lives we say only for the moment that it is; For ever after that it was. Every evening we are poorer by day” (Schopenhauer p.95). It is here in this quote that Schopenhauer is pointing out that it would make people insane if they knew the real truth about life. Life is like a blink of an eye, one second here, one second there, and the next it is gone. This is why he states that every second this short span of life fades away before our very eyes (Schopenhauer p.95).
Schopenhauer has a certain sarcastic tone as the rest of the discourse continues. He states that any great wisdom amounts to us making the best out of life, and this consists in enjoyment, and enjoyment of the present.
This moment is our only reality (Schopenhauer p.95). Just as we are left with one positive remark, Schopenhauer rocks this thesis with an antithesis and flips this statement back into his lethal pessimistic attack; each second brings us closer to our death, so the idea of great wisdom is also the greatest error. Every passing moment of our life that emerges, also fades and withers simultaneously… “Vanishes utterly like a dream, and can never be worth a series effort” (Schopenhauer p.95). There is a motion to life, a movement which is dependent upon our existence and that is, that our present life is always fleeting.
Life is fleeting because we are always in a constant rush, a steady flow, a constant motion where none of us can reach that rest we need, and are aiming for. Schopenhauer gives us an example of how restful life is this is an explicit example of the fleeting and motion that never rests (Schopenhauer p.95). It is, imagine a man who is running down a giant hill who cannot stop his legs from moving, the downward pull of the hill is constantly pushing and pulling him, this makes his running even more intense, he must keep running onward. If he stops the movement or if he stops this action of running, he will fall and plunge to his utter death. His body and legs become dependent on this constant motion and movement, this pull which is like a driving force. He must keep running, in hopes of keeping his legs on, and in fear of stopping and falling.
So the man is forced to keep this pace, to forever be a slave to this motion and to running down the hill (Schopenhauer p.95). This example sounds exactly like ‘The Myth of Sisyphus.’ Sisyphus who angered the gods was punished for all eternity, thus he was forced to roll a boulder up a hill, and he got to the very top of the hill he would watch in horror as the boulder fell back down, an endless cycle (Camus p.110). If we think about the example of the man running down the hill who can’t stop running, Schopenhauer uses this example to spell out that unrest becomes the ultimate sign of existence (Schopenhauer p.95). Schopenhauer states…“That all is unstable and nothing can endure, but is swept onwards at once in the hurrying whirlpool of change” (Schopenhauer p.95). This life of unrest is followed by a moment of change, and then another moment of change, which proceeded the last moment and this continuous model governs the steady alterations of life (Schopenhauer p.95). These constant changes makes the goal of a happy life, never fully attainable, happiness slips through our fingers like butter, impossible to hold (Schopenhauer p.96).
Human beings in a sense, according to Schopenhauer, are stuck in a complex desiring cycle; every moment that passes we are always in need of something else. Each moment of our life is devoted to attaining one specific thing, and when we have it we don’t want it anymore, we want something new. We are stuck in this sad pathetic state of being a slave to our desires and our needs (Schopenhauer p.96). There is always something new to attain and the more we receive, from these desires, the farther the cycle is interwoven in us. We never fully reach any of our goals, and this constant desiring cycle only makes room for an end, in disappointment (Schopenhauer p.96). In the bitter end it doesn’t matter whether we are happy or miserable, Schopenhauer states that life is nothing but a series of constant moments, vanishing before our eyes (Schopenhauer p.96).
According to Schopenhauer life, in general; and organic life as a whole could not exist with out the perpetual, continuous, change of matter (Schopenhauer p.96). In Schopenhauer’s own words this process is ‘the realm of finality’ and it’s exact opposite is that of the infinite (Schopenhauer p.96). An infinite existence would not be prone to the external forces of the world and attacked. An infinite existence would not need anything for survival; it wouldn’t have any dependencies on anything the reversal is humanities curse (Schopenhauer p.96). Man’s existence however, is finite and humanity does depend on internal and external forces. Life as finite begins and ends at the same time, this makes Schopenhauer conclude that life has no meaning and is valueless (Schopenhauer p.96). What remains from Schopenhauer’s dreary picture is thus a denial of ‘the will to live’, and this clears the path for humanity, to come to terms with the real truth about our existence (Schopenhauer p.96).
According to Schopenhauer life is a restless motion, driven by two prime impulses, our hunger and our sexual drives (Schopenhauer p.96). Schopenhauer states that these two-fold states-hunger and sexual impulses- are guided by the immense influence of boredom.
Schopenhauer states that our life is like watching, the scenes of everything we have done organized in an obscure painting (Schopenhauer p.96). If we have our face pressed against the painting we miss the subtleties of life’s effect. No beautify can be present unless we take a step back to be able to see the painting in its entirety (Schopenhauer p.96). To gain anything from this experience is to come to terms with everything and to realize that what we have longed for and discovered is filled with vanity and emptiness (Schopenhauer p.96).
This is Schopenhauer’s main point that… “we are always living in the expectation of better things and at the same time we repent and long to have the sacred past again” (Schopenhauer p.96). It is through our chronic nostalgia for the past that lets our present life go by us, and slip away (Schopenhauer p.96). We get stuck in a specific time, and disregard the present life which becomes no longer enjoyable and full of regret (Schopenhauer p.96). However, we may try to strive towards a single hope, but then it’s already too late and death comes calling on us (Schopenhauer p.96).
According to Schopenhauer man lays seeds of desire everywhere (Schopenhauer p.96). What these seeds grow into and blossom are none other, then a set of desires, which in turn produce more desires, and there is no end to these specific desires and certainly no end to our individual will (Schopenhauer p.96). Our will in his words is…“The lord of all worlds” (Schopenhauer p.96). Everything and every property of ourselves are given over to this will (Schopenhauer p.96). Our very own self belongs to the will, and there are never any feelings of satisfaction only the constant drive to engulf the endless totality of the world (Schopenhauer p.96). This will doesn’t get everything it wants only a certain amount of things and this is why we are plagued by misery.
Schopenhauer states that there are some necessary task’s in life. The first is earning a living, which amounts to working everyday (Schopenhauer p.97). By doing this act we face an on going constant burden (Schopenhauer p.97). Life seems like a constant triviality, and this leads to boredom (Schopenhauer p.97). Man must fight against boredom this is the second task we are faced with, coping with the boredom in our lives (Schopenhauer p.97).
According to Schopenhauer man is a multiplicity of needs, wants and necessities. Sometimes these needs and necessities are fulfilled, but it is at the moment when we realize that the sudden urge is no longer there and we have kept pain away, an uncanny felling lies present with us, it is boredom (Schopenhauer p.97). Even in the moment of being fully satisfied we still feel the presence of boredom (Schopenhauer p.96). This is where Schopenhauer concludes that life has no meaning at all and is utterly valueless (Schopenhauer p.96). If boredom still remains present even after a time of satisfaction then there is really nothing to life in the first place. Boredom becomes the feeling of absolute emptiness (Schopenhauer p.97). This whole ideology adds to the illusion of life what exactly are we struggling for? Absolutely, nothing; Humanity is caught up in an existence that is vain and utterly empty (Schopenhauer p.97). In Schopenhauer’s closing statements he concludes with a poetic destruction of mankind… “ The generation of men as they live their little mock hour of existence and then are swept away in rapid succession; if we turn from this, and look at life in its small details as presented, say in a comedy, how ridiculous it all seem!”(Schopenhauer p.97). He finally states that life is utterly a mistake.
Great article. At the beginning I was not sure of your take on A.S, but at the end, I take it that you share his views.
ReplyDeleteI am happy I came across his works after getting my PhD and realized how empty I was afterwards. My other graduating classmates shared exactly the same view and one guy in particular took it harder. Then I started wondering why each time I attain a goal it becomes less and less important. There has to be an explanation to this whole craziness. then I came across a you tube video "On the Vanity of existence" by A.S and then a new world and explanation was opened to me.
I agree with the writings of A.S. a lot more because the views he expresses(ed) are things I have always thought about before I came across his worlds. I couldn't never verbalize or put worlds to my thoughs. I am touched by his brilliance and for me this is a huge relieve.
Being a pessimist for most of life (after carefully observing the world, crime, disasters, hatred, etc), I related to A.S's philosophy. However, for me, I'm not going to kill myself. I'm contented in knowing that there is not value and will trying to do my best according to my own views or standards, trying to be better than I was yesterday.
All along, I just wanted the truth which provides a consistent explanation of how the world is. I didn't get this from religion and hurt more.
Pardon the rather long post, which may seem moer like a rant.
Once again, a very great analysis. I'm going to post a link to this article on my page.
Cheers
This essay is incredible, interesting, depressing and eye opening. I feel a sense of relief reading about this topic, realising that the empty, boredom that I constantly feel isn't attributed to my lack of motivation, but the human existence in general.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have to say, reading pessimistic philosophy makes you want to give up on everything and retreat to a small cave and sustain yourself and do nothing of any importance with your life. Because ultimately, human existence is a mistake, and there is literally no point to achieving anything.
Woah, very full and illuminating. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering, what exact source are you referencing Schopenhauer from?
An excellent and enlightening review of the most famous essay by Schopenhauer.
ReplyDeleteLife is more an absurdity than a mistake. Mistake is that committed by man, but life is a class act of nature and not a mistake of man. Nature acts as per natural laws and does not commit any mistake. Nobody call an earthquake or the tsunami as mistakes of nature. I share the pessimism of Schopenhauer that life is pointless and valueless. But I would rather call it absurd instead of a mistake as Albert Camus had said.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete