The moral meaning of the world
The moral meaning of the world
t is sometimes assumed that Schopenhauer regards existence as meaningless, and it seems that pessimism should be associated with meaninglessness. However, Schopenhauer insists that there must a “moral meaning” to the world because human beings have a metaphysical need: we must see the world as pointing to a higher purpose beyond itself. Schopenhauer rejects theism and any optimistic higher purpose, but regards Christianity, which he views as pessimistic, as correctly identifying the higher purpose: negation of the will, which will bring “salvation.” There is, however, a difficulty in construing this meaning as “moral.” Schopenhauer regards morality as a case of willing the well-being of others, but also as a step toward will-lessness, so there is a question whether the “meaning” is coherently characterized. Nietzsche’s analysis of Schopenhauer seems correct: after abandoning any theistic or optimistic meaning, Schopenhauer raises the question whether existence has any meaning at all, but his positive answer retains the commitment to self-negation that he found in Christianity.
425-440
Janaway, Christopher
61c48538-365f-416f-b6f7-dfa4d4663475
4 May 2022
Janaway, Christopher
61c48538-365f-416f-b6f7-dfa4d4663475
Janaway, Christopher
(2022)
The moral meaning of the world.
Birnbacher, Dieter and Koßler, Matthias
(eds.)
In Das Hauptwerk: 200 Jahre Schopenhauers Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung.
Königshausen und Neumann.
.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
t is sometimes assumed that Schopenhauer regards existence as meaningless, and it seems that pessimism should be associated with meaninglessness. However, Schopenhauer insists that there must a “moral meaning” to the world because human beings have a metaphysical need: we must see the world as pointing to a higher purpose beyond itself. Schopenhauer rejects theism and any optimistic higher purpose, but regards Christianity, which he views as pessimistic, as correctly identifying the higher purpose: negation of the will, which will bring “salvation.” There is, however, a difficulty in construing this meaning as “moral.” Schopenhauer regards morality as a case of willing the well-being of others, but also as a step toward will-lessness, so there is a question whether the “meaning” is coherently characterized. Nietzsche’s analysis of Schopenhauer seems correct: after abandoning any theistic or optimistic meaning, Schopenhauer raises the question whether existence has any meaning at all, but his positive answer retains the commitment to self-negation that he found in Christianity.
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Published date: 4 May 2022
Venue - Dates:
International Congress: „Das Hauptwerk. 200 Jahre Arthur Schopenhauers Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung“ 2019, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2019-10-23 - 2019-10-26
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 457274
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/457274
PURE UUID: 7abeb676-b23a-40f7-b93f-da6fa2cbe006
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Date deposited: 30 May 2022 16:55
Last modified: 31 May 2022 01:37
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Contributors
Editor:
Dieter Birnbacher
Editor:
Matthias Koßler
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