In Studies in Pessimism, Schopenhauer argues that suffering is intrinsic to human existence; that by nature we will experience suffering regardless of how we live our lives. Similar to Epictetus’ view, Schopenhauer states that the only way to minimize the amount of suffering one feels is by living a life of pure reason. This paper will examine both Schopenhauer’s characterization of human suffering and his recommendations for how to best live our lives. It will then argue that while his characterizations are generally sound, his recommendations are not because they alienate us from our emotions.
Schopenhauer states that human life is full of suffering because we lead desire driven lives. We want things that unintentionally make us suffer and when obtain them we realize that they fail to make us happy we replace them with new goals. It becomes a continuous cycle of desires and suffering.
It is not simply desires that cause us suffering but rather all of emotion. Schopenhauer claims “lower” animals demonstrate significantly less suffering because they do not experience deep emotions. They are “much more content with mere existence than man” (Schopenhauer pg. 3). Man’s fixation with the past and the present makes us “relentless and discontented” (4). Thought processes such as anticipation are responsible for our suffering because of their relationship to pleasure. We anticipate pleasure so much that when we attain a goal its pleasure is “not so nearly pleasant as we expected”, but when we experience something painful we find it to be “very much more painful” than we anticipated (1). Thus pain will always outweigh the amount of pleasure we experience.
Perhaps even worse is when man stops anticipating. For when he is bored, and s...
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... unexplored logic. We are passionate animals, and to alienate us from our nature would simply cause new suffering.
Human existence is filled with suffering because of our emotional nature. Schopenhauer states that to reduce suffering, we must live a life of intellect alone. His characterizations of our suffering in this world centre on our emotions, and his recommendations centre on distancing ourselves from them, a virtually impossible task. While he may not recommend suicide as strongly as he recommends distancing oneself from their emotions they amount to essentially the same thing. A man who does not feel might as well be dead.
Works Cited
Arthur Schopenhauer. “On the Sufferings of the World” from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer: Studies in Pessimism, T. bailey Saunders, trans., Dodo Press © 2008, 13 pages.
Reproduced with the permission of Dodo Press
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