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Schopenhauer's conception of philosophy
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1Schopenhauer's conception of philosophy
Arthur Schopenhauer provided a scathing rebuke of the bourgeois worldview,
highlighting its glorification of a logic that only served practical concerns and, behind these, its
self-abasement in the face of science's crass materialism (Schopenhauer, 1994). Schopenhauer
disdained Hegel's "philosophy of pure foolishness," calling it made up of "three-quarters cash
and one-quarter insane concepts," in particular endeavors to historicize and legitimize the ills of
the bourgeois society as part of an organized philosophical design (Schopenhauer, 1994, pg. 79-
81). He dismissed the proposal that history was coherent beyond the endless repetition of the
same sad structures of events (Schopenhauer, 1994). According to Schopenhauer, the will to
exist, primarily expressed in sexual activity and the instinctive and irrational desire to maintain a
living, is in actuality bound to the pragmatic motivations of the cognition or reason, which
Enlightenment philosophers often hypostatized. From a Kantian perspective, Schopenhauer
believed that the will was the only noumenal actuality, a drive that was instinctive, frequently
authoritarian, and closely linked to recollection and sexuality.
In his writings, Schopenhauer revealed his profound disenchantment with the issues and
practices of philosophy. He was irritated with philosophers' what he perceived to be
philosophical and linguistic antics, logical fallacies, and unfounded theories. Furthermore, he
advocated that supposition be limited to learning, observing, and experimenting. Above
everything else, Schopenhauer's depiction of the human individual was a far cry from the
idealized Hegelian object, whose moral and intellectual conduct logically fitted with the
demands of a rational state. The Schopenhauerian Concept was fueled by barely discernible
motivations and held a constant fight and battle between its constituent parts.
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Schopenhauer saw consciousness as the bare outside of the mind, predating Freud.
Human logic is only one faculty, and it scarcely holds a prominent position. Its wisdom is limited
to the imperfect aware mind, and its functioning is a constant battle to balance the demands of
the societal environment with the most primal instincts and impulses. Human reason, in
Schopenhauer's view, is only a secondary phenomenon that does not fundamentally and
essentially set humanity apart from the entirety of nature. According to Schopenhauer, humans
have highly developed cognitive faculties used for willingness. This absurd, pointless, never-
ending effort confines a person to a life of pain devoid of the greater good. Metaphysical
voluntarism is the name given to Schopenhauer's view of the will as the fundamental reality
underlying the depiction of the universe.
Schopenhauer's idea of the will to exist actually has a lot in common with Freud's idea of
the subconscious mind as a realm where there might be inconsistencies, where things don't
happen in chronological order, and where assertions about psychical actuality take the place of
those about external reality. Kant's difference between phenomena and noumena served as
Schopenhauer's preliminary step. On the premise of this dichotomy, he viewed the universe as
perceptual, a depiction whose shape was controlled by the experienced machinery of time, space,
and causation. The cognizant human individual has a dual status in this plan. On one side, it fits
into the overall structure of the globe's objects: As a subject, I am aware of myself as an entity.
In contrast, I perceive myself as a subject—a deliberate, proactive, active actor whose physique
and activities objectify my purpose. The "in-itself" of my perceptual being, this internal
awareness instantaneously and irreducibly manifests forth to self as my volition.
Schopenhauer makes a point of stressing again and time again that the will is not a tool of
the intellect. Furthermore, the intellect is not some exclusive capacity that approaches world
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