Schopenhauer saw the world as a “stage of suffering.” Are the aesthetic and moral ways he proposed to reduce suffering still valid?
Schopenhauer’s Ontology of Suffering and the Actuality of the Ways of Liberation
Arthur Schopenhauer built the foundation of his philosophical system on the reality of suffering surrounding human existence. According to him, the world is a manifestation of a blind, unconscious, insatiable desire that he calls “will.” This will manifests itself both in the blind impulses in nature and in human desires. As the self-conscious form of this will, man is a being who can never give up wanting and therefore exists in constant deprivation, disappointment, and pain.
In this context, the world is a “stage of suffering” for Schopenhauer – the eternal conflict area of a form of existence cursed with wanting to exist. Happiness can only be a temporary suspension of suffering, since every satisfaction gives birth to a new desire. This idea forms the basis of his philosophical pessimism and is a radical opposition to the optimistic understanding of existence that is common in Western metaphysics.
The Aesthetic Path: Suspension of the Will
The first medium that Schopenhauer offers as a temporary escape from this inner tragedy is the aesthetic experience. Art, especially music, temporarily makes one forget the individual self, which is the object of the will. Through art, the individual no longer looks at the world in the subject-object duality, but from a position of pure contemplation. In this case, the act of will is paused; the individual becomes pure “knowledge” (zum reinen Subject der Erkenntnis).
Music, in particular, is considered a direct echo of the will itself and therefore has a deeper metaphysical value than other forms of art. In this respect, art separates the person from the painful reality with an aesthetic distance and brings him to a temporary state of painlessness and inner peace.
The Moral Path: Compassion and the Rejection of the Will
However, the path that Schopenhauer proposes as the real permanent solution is the moral-redemptive path. The basis of this path is the individual’s identification with all existence by going beyond his own individuality. According to Schopenhauer, moral goodness does not arise from rational calculations or the ethics of duty, but from the feeling of compassion (Mitleid). Compassion is the ability to feel another’s suffering directly within ourselves, and this means overcoming the individualizing effect of the will.
The culmination of moral identification is the complete rejection of the will—that is, the abandonment of desires, worldly pleasures, and “ego”-centered wills. This is a model of liberation that is quite similar to the Buddhist concept of nirvana. As the will fades, the person is also freed from suffering. This is, in Schopenhauer’s words, a “withdrawal from the world” (Verneinung des Willens zum Leben).
Its Validity Today
In the modern world, the individual is surrounded by ever-increasing desires, consumer culture, and digital stimuli. This situation is a contemporary manifestation of the “never-satiable will” that Schopenhauer identified. As people try to acquire more “things,” they are thrown into greater existential dissatisfaction.
In this context, Schopenhauer’s strategies for escaping pain through aesthetic and moral means find a deep ontological counterpart today:
The soothing function of art, especially the effect of aesthetic experiences such as music and cinema that distance the individual from the world, is felt strongly even in the digital age.
A compassion-centered understanding of ethics is back on the agenda in today’s psychology with concepts such as “self-compassion,” “empathy,” and “trauma awareness.”
The rejection of will has gained new meaning with the rise of minimalism, spiritual simplicity, and Buddhist life practices in the West in recent years.
