The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast Episode 114: Schopenhauer: "The World Is Will"
Apr 27, 2015
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Representation Vs. The Thing-In-Itself
- Schopenhauer treats the world we know as representation and proposes a separate 'will' as the thing-in-itself behind appearances.
- He builds on Kant but claims we can access the will via inner experience, unlike Kant's unknowable noumena.
Science Shows Regularity, Not Inner Nature
- Schopenhauer argues scientific causality describes regularities but not the inner nature of phenomena.
- He treats 'force' (e.g., gravity) as an explanatory placeholder pointing to will, not a causal entity within representation.
Will And Bodily Action Are One
- The act of willing and bodily movement are one same thing known in two ways: immediate inner experience and outer perception.
- Schopenhauer makes will the inner, non-representational aspect whose objectified flip-side appears as bodily action.