Schopenhauer’s Asceticism: A path to salvation

Abstract

Asceticism has been one of the most important concepts in Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy, especially in his theory of salvation. He has defined salvation as releasing from pain and suffering and achieving long-term tranquility. According to him, such tranquility may be achieved by the way of asceticism. Life is suffering according to him. Hence, a way of relief must be sought. Thus, he has thought that the source of all suffering is will. He has actually considered suffering as a phenomenon of will and an essential part of human life. Therefore, will has to be denied, surpassed, and dumbed if relief and peace are required. Denying and ignoring the appetites and wishes makes the relief possible. Thus, he paid special attention to the concept of Asceticism and declared it as the only way of true salvation. This essay tried to explain the concepts of Asceticism and salvation and then show how Asceticism may soothe human beings' sufferings and lead to salvation according to Schopenhauer.

Keywords

• asceticism
• salvation
• schopenhauer
• suffering
• will