Schopenhauer on the Meaning of life: An Evaluation

Abstract

Shopenhauer considers humam life to be meaningless. He denied the existence of God due to the existence of a plenty of pain and suffering in life and believes that people unreasonabley assume It to make their life meaningful. He also contends that creation of such a world is a mistake. The life of human being in this world is a process in which they do not have a clear goal. Thus, it is only an aimless continuation. In his view, since the majority of life is surrounded by pain and suffering, it is worthless. He also emphasized the role of free will in the life of human being, asserting that it make human life an endless process. This is because his demands are unlimitated and this causes pain and suffering and meaninglessness of the life. I think there are some mistakes in his view. He considers pleasure to be the benefit and purpose of life. But this is not the only benefit and purpose of life, and there are other things that are more worthy than mere pleasure. Also, it is not the case that the use of free will is always entails suffering, because moving forward to a goal usually indicates a sense of pleasure, especially if one considers a virtuous goal.

Keywords

• schopenhauer
• meaninglessness
• purpose
• value
• pain and suffering
• free will