Summary Of Pessimism By Schopenhauer

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In Studies in Pessimism, Schopenhauer believes that life is full of suffering and that human life is a mistake. He gives reasons to why he thinks life is full of suffering and explains what he thinks would be the ideal way of living with this situation. This purpose of this paper will be to examine his reasoning and will argue that his reasoning is not sound, life is not full of suffering rather the opposite and his ideal way of living does not benefit humankind.
Schopenhauer believes suffering is the objective of life. The more years you live, the more disappointed you are about life. The prime goal in human life is to gain what we desire but getting everything would result into boredom. Schopenhauer believes boredom is a form of suffering.
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It is true the more we grow up, the more disappointed we are with life but it is also true when we reach this disappointment we get inspiration to try and make life better. When we get what we desire, we start to desire more things. Sometimes even in an intrinsic way. We may desire to help the homeless or an orphan in a selfless way. Perhaps because we have everything we want but they do not. Living life thinking that human life was a mistake and we are here because of a mistake would make any live suffering, but living life thinking you have a purpose in life and that you can change the world would be living positively. The human life is anything but boring. His argument that life is full of suffering is not sound because in order for life to be full of suffering most people would not be content with their lives, but if you ask people most are content with what they have in their life and what they think their life is …show more content…
Living life intellectually may be the best way to live without suffering but most of us live for our desires. The happiest way to live is to fulfil our desires. To live with intellect would be to live without emotions. It would almost make us like robots. In today’s society where robots could very well be created to live as humans. Humans are known for their emotions. It is our emotions that drive us. I believe as humans our motive for life is to make ourselves happy. Humans have a certain balance with emotions. There is an equal amount of pain as there is happiness. A person who is close to their life may admit they regret not doing enough in live, this does not mean they are suffering from life back rather the lack of living they had done. Living in a transcendental way, by with intellect rather than will would devoid us from our emotions. Schopenhauer has said that the brute lives a happier life than humans do. Animals live “quiet, placid enjoyment of the present moment” (p.3). Some humans do live this way as well. They live in the moment and are carefree but they also have emotions. Living life just with intellect and not will would not be sound because it is not in human nature. We have not been created to live in such a way. Humans are controlled mostly by their emotions and desires, it is what makes us function and makes us humans. Living in another way would make us something else. Schopenhauer says that philosophers and

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