Schopenhauer and the nature of truth

John Vespasian

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) devoted his whole life to the pursuit of truth. He acknowledged that truth is sometimes unpleasant and harsh, but humans are better off when they face problems and take action to solve them. In his major work “The World as Will and Representation,” (1818), Schopenhauer categorised the will (“life force”) as the main driver behind human actions. It exerts massive influence on perception, motivation, and on how people take decisions. Schopenhauer criticised mainstream philosophers because of their failure to grasp how the will drives the universe. If you fail to study the theory of the will, you cannot understand the tangible experiences of life. Truth can only be perceived, argued Schopenhauer, by those who acknowledge the influence of the will on the thoughts of individuals. Those thoughts combine the will (blind, irrational, external force) with individual perceptions and desires. Schopenhauer’s books “On the fourfold root of the principle of sufficient cause” (1814) and “Parerga and Paralipomena” (1851) recommend confronting the harsh realities of existence, instead of engaging in wishful thinking. The truth will help us make the right decisions. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/schopenhauer-and-the-nature-of-truth/