Hugur - 01.01.2012, Qupperneq 35

Viljafrumspeki og bölhyggja Schopenhauers 35
Young, Julian. 2010. Willing and Unwilling: A Study in the Philosophy of Arthur Scho-
penhauer. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
White, F. C. 1999. The Fourfold Root. The Cambridge Companion to Schopenhauer.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wicks, Robert. 2008. Endless Suffering in the Daily World. Schopenhauer. London:
Blackwell.
Abstract
Schopenhauer’s pessimism and the metaphysical will
In the first part of this essay my purpose is to clarify Arthur Schopenhauer’s
metaphysical will which his philosophical system is grounded on. The world as
will is the thing in itself, an endless, blind force without purpose, undivided and
whole, beyond time, space and morality. As the innermost essence of the world,
the will appears in every force of nature as well as in any deliberate conduct of
man. Schopenhauer claims that the knowledge of one’s own willing provides the
key to knowing the nature of the world in itself. In the second part, I clarify and
evaluate Schopenhauer’s pessimism grounded on his metaphysics of the end-
less striving will and his interpretation of the human will as such. I distinguish
two of his main arguments for the view that earthly happiness is impossible, the
argument from lack of satisfaction and the argument from boredom. I argue that
Derrida’s notions of différance and deconstruction can be useful in refuting Scho-
penhauer’s pessimism as they explain and highlight the latter’s narrow-minded
strategy and logocentric line of thought. These notions also explain why the will
cannot be fulfilled and why satisfaction cannot be finally achieved within human
existence.