scholarly journals Σοπενχάουερ περί Θανάτου και Αυτοκτονίας

Bioethica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Lina Papadaki (Λίνα Παπαδάκη)
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The World ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Will ◽  
Genuine Solution

Schopenhauer is portrayed as the philosopher of pessimism, and for good reason. For him, life is suffering where ‘ultimately death must triumph’ (The World as Will and Representation vol. I, 311). However, his pessimism fades away when he contemplates death. He argues enthusiastically that, far from being an evil, death is in fact a friend we should welcome. Moreover, he believes it is possible for human beings to use their knowledge to fight the fear of death. Interestingly, however, at the point where the reader expects a philosophical defense of suicide, Schopenhauer vehemently argues against it. Suicide to avoid pain and suffering, according to him, is a mistake, a futile, foolish and egoistic act. Not only does suicide not offer a genuine solution to suffering, but also it hinders true salvation, the denial of the will.In this paper, I argue that Schopenhauer’s condemnation of suicide is in fact at odds with his views on death and can weaken his argumentation about why we must not fear death. It is my belief that Schopenhauer’s views on suicide stem - quite ironically - from his being, at times, overly optimistic about the possibility of genuine salvation. When it comes to freeing ourselves from the will, however, we are better off pessimists. This, I explain, will allow us to at least keep our optimism regarding death and find solace in the knowledge that - be it by old age, illness, accident, suicide or any other cause - death is not to be feared.

Philosophical Background

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Mark Timmons
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
Phenomenal World ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Freedom Of The Will ◽  
The World ◽  
Philosophical Background ◽  
The Will ◽  
Kant's Ethics ◽  
Immortality Of The Soul ◽  
Cognition And Knowledge

This chapter provides a brief overview of certain elements of Kant’s metaphysics and epistemology that are essential background for understanding certain features of his ethical theory. In particular, it presents Kant’s distinction between the ‘world of sense’ or ‘phenomenal world’ and the ‘world of understanding’ or ‘noumenal world’ as a basis for explaining the limits of theoretical cognition which rules out theoretical cognition and knowledge of God, immortality of the soul, and freedom of the will, yet allows Kant to affirm their reality on moral grounds, needed to explain how the highest good is possible. Of importance for understanding certain claims in his work on virtue is the distinction between the phenomenal world and the noumenal world as it applies to human beings. The chapter concludes with reflections on the relation between Kant’s ethics and his metaphysical and epistemological commitments.

Predestination

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
George I. Mavrodes
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
The Other ◽  
John Calvin ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Equal Condition ◽  
Divine Grace ◽  
The World ◽  
The Will ◽  
Determining Factor

Predestination appears to be a religious or theological version of universal determinism, a version in which the final determining factor is the will or action of God. It is most often associated with the theological tradition of Calvinism, although some theologians outside the Calvinist tradition, or prior to it (for example, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas), profess similar doctrines. The idea of predestination also plays a role in some religions other than Christianity, perhaps most notably in Islam. Sometimes the idea of predestination is formulated in a comparatively restricted way, being applied only to the manner in which the divine grace of salvation is said to be extended to some human beings and not to others. John Calvin, for example, writes: We call predestination God’s eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as any man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestined to life or to death. (Institutes, bk 3, ch. 21, sec. 5) At other times, however, the idea is applied more generally to the whole course of events in the world; whatever happens in the world is determined by the will of God. Philosophically, the most interesting aspects of the doctrine are not essentially linked with salvation. For instance, if God is the first cause of all that happens, how can people be said to have free will? One answer may be that people are free in so far as they act in accordance with their own motives and desires, even if these are determined by God. Another problem is that the doctrine seems to make God ultimately responsible for sin. A possible response here is to distinguish between actively causing something and passively allowing it to happen, and to say that God merely allows people to sin; it is then human agents who actively choose to sin and God is therefore not responsible.

HUMAN AUTONOMY AND ITS LIMITS IN THE THOUGHT OF ORIGEN OF ALEXANDRIA

2016 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 673-690
Author(s):  
Kathleen Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
Alternative Possibilities ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Third ◽  
Human Choice ◽  
Origen Of Alexandria ◽  
Human Autonomy ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Church

As the church historian Henri Crouzel observed, questions about the nature of human autonomy were central to the thought of the third-century theologian Origen of Alexandria. On this question, his influence on later generations, though complicated, would be difficult to overstate. Yet, what exactly Origen thought autonomy required has been a subject of debate. On one widespread reading, he has been taken to argue that autonomy requires that human beings have the capacity to act otherwise than they do in fact act; that is, that alternative possibilities of action are causally available to them. As Susanne Bobzien has argued, however, there is good reason to think that the view that such alternative possibilities are required for the ascription of autonomy did not explicitly emerge until Alexander of Aphrodisias, a rough contemporary of Origen's of whose thought he was likely unaware. In revisiting Origen on the notion of ‘free will’, Michael Frede, against the ‘alternative possibilities’ reading, argued that his theory of the will was largely attributable to Stoicism, and in particular to Epictetus’ theory of will as προαίρεσις. George Boys-Stones, for his part, has claimed that, while Origen's theory of the descent of the pre-existent minds is aimed at providing an account of how human beings are entirely responsible for their characters, in the embodied state we find no evidence that he understood human choice subsequent to the fall to depend upon the existence of alternative possibilities in order to be autonomous.

The Moral Meaning of the World

2020 ◽  
pp. 269-283
Author(s):  
Christopher Janaway
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Positive Answer ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The World ◽  
The Will ◽  
Moral Meaning ◽  
Higher Purpose

It is sometimes assumed that Schopenhauer regards existence as meaningless, and it seems that pessimism should be associated with meaninglessness. However, Schopenhauer insists that there must a “moral meaning” to the world because human beings have a metaphysical need: we must see the world as pointing to a higher purpose beyond itself. Schopenhauer rejects theism and any optimistic higher purpose, but regards Christianity, which he views as pessimistic, as correctly identifying the higher purpose: negation of the will, which will bring “salvation.” There is, however, a difficulty in construing this meaning as “moral.” Schopenhauer regards morality as a case of willing the well-being of others, but also as a step toward will-lessness, so there is a question whether the “meaning” is coherently characterized. Nietzsche’s analysis of Schopenhauer seems correct: after abandoning any theistic or optimistic meaning, Schopenhauer raises the question whether existence has any meaning at all, but his positive answer retains the commitment to self-negation that he found in Christianity.

Responses to “An Ethical Analysis of the Barriers to Effective Pain Management” by Ben A. Rich (CQ Vol 9, No 1)

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-96
Author(s):  
Claire Brett
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pain Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethical Analysis ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Decent People ◽  
Serious Crime ◽  
The World ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
Definition Of

Ben Rich, J.D., Ph.D., presents a scholarly, passionate view of the ethics of the “barriers to effective pain management.” His manuscript is detailed, analytical, and compassionate. No reasonable sensitive person, especially a physician committed to caring for patients, can disagree with the proposal that human beings should have their physical, emotional, and spiritual pain tended to aggressively, meticulously, and compassionately. Similarly, the same individuals advocating for such pain management would agree that no one should go to jail unless he or she is guilty of a serious crime, that decent people should not be robbed or murdered, that children should not be hungry or homeless, and that all citizens of the United States deserve healthcare. Our society attempts to achieve these goals. Laws are written, discussed, and approved by state and federal congresses, voted on by citizens, and theoretically upheld by the courts, churches, and decent individuals. But, unless the world suddenly becomes inhabited by virtuous, ethical humans who can unfailingly differentiate “good” from “bad,” then, in spite of an abundance of laws and lawyers, doctors, and nurses, this world will continue to have pain and suffering. And, although we want to hold our doctors, politicians, educators, champion athletes, and others to “higher standards” than the average citizen, it is best to remind ourselves frequently that all humans can be weak and are bound to make imprecise judgments, that there is not a homogenous definition of “good,” that values and religious beliefs are variable.

Schopenhauer on Action and the Will

1982 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 127-140
Author(s):  
D. W. Hamlyn
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Main Structure ◽  
The World ◽  
Will To Live ◽  
The Will

There are certain metaphysical theories which present a view of the world and of the position of human-beings within it which have seemed attractive or at least impressive to many irrespective of the arguments that are marshalled in their favour. That is certainly true of Schopenhauer. His identification of the inner nature of reality with the will, and the conclusions which he drew from this as regards the nature of human-beings and their place in the world, have seemed striking and perhaps even illuminating to many thinkers, not all of whom have been philosophers in the most obvious sense and not all of whom have had much concern for the underlying argument that led Schopenhauer to his conclusions. It is in this way too, perhaps, that certain of Schopenhauer's ideas have become well known—his emphasis on the will to live, his pessimism and his views on suicide, and his thoughts about human nature and about sex that have been seen as something of an anticipation of Freud. In recent times attention has also been directed to his influence on Wittgenstein. In all these respects, however, it is Schopenhauer's ideas that have been influential, rather than the argument that underlies them. Indeed it is sometimes said that Schopenhauer was not a very systematic thinker at all. If that seems true it is so in the sense that Kant too has seemed to some unsystematic in the details of his argument. That does not mean that the main structure of the argument is not clear. So it is with Schopenhauer.

scholarly journals Black Love: On the Colours of Feelings in “Confiteor” by Antoni Szandlerowski

2019 ◽  
pp. 349-360
Author(s):  
Bartosz Ejzak
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Neurological Disorders ◽  
The Other ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Dark Cloud ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Times

The imagination of Antoni Szandlerowski in his collection of letters to Helena Beatus (Confiteor), his beloved one, is dominated by black. The aim of this article is to show that this colour plays a major role in Confiteor therefore it is used be the author most of the times. When he writes about how pure and beautiful Helena Beatus is, he uses metaphors such as: black dove, black iris, dark cloud, dark corridor. It shows how pessimistic about the future and how guilty about the love he felt Antoni Szandlerowski was. The internal conflict was caused by the will to fulfil as a lover and the duty to continue priestly services. Antoni Szandlerowski is full of doubts. He misses Helena Beatus and feels that he cannot be happy without her. On the other hand, he knows that they cannot make their desire to live side by side real. Since the world is a place of pain and misery where the love cannot thrive due to social norms, lovers can bind together only after death. This way of thinking led Szandlerowski to many neurological disorders, caused nightmares and a painful impression that the whole world around fades away. Szandlerowski uses symbols such as a black dove and a black iris to describe his beloved one and to show the dichotomy of his perception. Therefore love is the source of all the pain and suffering for him.

Schopenhauer, Arthur (1788–1860)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Janaway
Keyword(s):  
Aesthetic Experience ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Special Treatment ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Human Predicament ◽  
The World ◽  
Academic Philosophy ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Impact

Schopenhauer, one of the great prose-writers among German philosophers, worked outside the mainstream of academic philosophy. He wrote chiefly in the first half of the nineteenth century, publishing Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (The World as Will and Representation), Volume 1 in 1818 and Volume 2 in 1844, but his ideas became widely known only in the half-century from 1850 onwards. The impact of Schopenhauer’s philosophy may be seen in the work of many artists of this period, most prominently Wagner, and in some of the themes of psychoanalysis. The philosopher most influenced by him was Nietzsche, who originally accepted but later opposed many of his ideas. Schopenhauer considered himself a follower of Kant, and this influence shows in Schopenhauer’s defence of idealism and in many of his central concepts. However, he also departs radically from Kant. His dominant idea is that of the will: he claims that the whole world is will, a striving and mostly unconscious force with a multiplicity of manifestations. Schopenhauer advances this as a metaphysical account of the world as it is in itself, but believes it is also supported by empirical evidence. Humans, as part of the world, are fundamentally willing beings, their behaviour shaped by an unchosen will to life which manifests itself in all organisms. His account of the interplay between the will and the intellect has been seen as a prototype for later theories of the unconscious. Schopenhauer is a pessimist: he believes that our nature as willing beings inevitably leads to suffering, and that a life containing suffering is worse than nonexistence. These doctrines, conveyed in a literary style which is often profound and moving, are among his most influential. Equally important are his views on ‘salvation’ from the human predicament, which he finds in the denial of the will, or the will’s turning against itself. Although his philosophy is atheist, Schopenhauer looks to several of the world religions for examples of asceticism and self-renunciation. His thought was partially influenced by Hinduism at an early stage, and he later found Buddhism sympathetic. Aesthetic experience assumes great importance in Schopenhauer’s work. He suggests that it is a kind of will-less perception in which one suspends one’s attachments to objects in the world, attaining release from the torment of willing (desire and suffering), and understanding the nature of things more objectively. The artistic genius is the person abnormally gifted with the capacity for objective, will-free perception, who enables similar experiences in others. Here Schopenhauer adopts the Platonic notion of Ideas, which he conceives as eternally existing aspects of reality: the genius discerns these Ideas, and aesthetic experience in general may bring us to comprehend them. Music is given a special treatment: it directly manifests the nature of the will that underlies the whole world. In ethics Schopenhauer makes thorough criticisms of Kant’s theory. He bases his own ethical views on the notion of compassion or sympathy, which he considers a relatively rare quality, since human beings, as organic, willing beings, are egoistic by nature. Nevertheless, compassion, whose worldview minimizes the distinctness of what are considered separate individuals, is the only true moral impulse for Schopenhauer.

Freedom and Morality

2019 ◽  
pp. 97-139
Author(s):  
Sandra Shapshay
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Normative Ethics ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Hard Determinism ◽  
Freedom Of The Will ◽  
The World ◽  
The Will ◽  
Normative Ethical Theory

Most contemporary ethical theorists do not look to Schopenhauer as a resource for contemporary normative ethics. Chapters 1 and 2 dispel one of the main reasons for this—namely, that Schopenhauer’s pessimism leads only to the recommendation of resignation. But there is another reason why Schopenhauer has been neglected as an ethical theorist that this chapter addresses. It is widely held that Schopenhauer espouses hard determinism, the view that human beings (in addition to non-human animals) are determined to act as they do on the basis of physical and psychological laws. Yet, without the presumption of freedom it makes little sense to offer a normative ethical theory. Accordingly, before reconstructing Schopenhauer’s normative ethical theory, one needs to get clearer on his views on freedom. This chapter begins with Schopenhauer’s grappling with the problem of how freedom is possible in his dissertation (1813) and traces the development of his theory of freedom through The World as Will and Representation (1818) and his essay “On the Freedom of the Will” (1839). Next, it offers an interpretation of Schopenhauer’s mature compatibilist view that shows how it aims to depart from, but remains highly indebted to Kant’s theory of freedom. This under-acknowledged debt is the “ghost of Kantian freedom” in Schopenhauer’s thought. Ultimately, for Schopenhauer, though we are each born with an innate character and are shaped largely by our empirical circumstances, a rational being is nonetheless responsible for her character, which she can shape and even, albeit rarely, transform.

scholarly journals Manusia Ideal Dalam Prespektif Tasawwuf dan Filsafat (Studi Komperatis Pemikiran Ibnu Araby dan Nietsche Tentang Manusia)

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-88
Author(s):  
Ainul Fithriyah
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Arthur Schopenhauer ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The West ◽  
Will To Power ◽  
The World ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Main Ideas ◽  
The Ideal

The variety of thoughts about the optimal attainment of human self and the satisfaction of human life is what may have made Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1868) deny all worldly phenomena. He saw that the world was full of suffering. Humans, as the supreme product of the basic activities of the world, are in fact the most unfortunate creatures. Therefore, humans will be able to achieve happiness when they are able to kill passions and cravings. Studies on the optimal achievement of humans and the meaning of human life from the two figures above, are still important and beneficial to do. Because the concept of the ideal human being is a model and example for us that we can emulate or maybe we can make it happen if we feel fit and believe in the truth. But the question might arise, is it still relevant to study the thoughts of long-dead figures such as Ibn Arabi and Neitzsche? in the opinion of the author, the study of their thinking is still relevant. Because in their thoughts are contained eternal pearls, and because of the peculiarity of each thought. This is evident if we pay attention today, where the thoughts of the two figures are still the subject of study in various countries, both in the West and the East. The works that examine Nietzsche's thoughts about the Ubermensch man include the work of Chairul Arifin, entitled The will to power: Briedrich Nietzsche. This book discusses Nietzsche's views on human beings and his anti-theism. These two thoughts are then connected by the author of this book with Nietzsche's main thought, namely the will to power. And in one of its chapters, the book also examines the concept of Ubermensch Nietzsche. Another work that addresses Nietzsche and Nietzsche's main ideas, including Ubermensch in a separate chapter is Nietzsche by St Sunardi. Besides that, there are other books. Of the books mentioned above and others to the best of the author's knowledge, there has never been found a work that specifically compares Ibn Arabi's insan kamil concept and Nietzsche's Ubermensch concept.

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