On The Will In Nature

by Arthur Schopenhauer

"On the Will in Nature" was originally published in 1836 and is an extensive account of Schopenhauer's metaphysics as it relates to natural phenomena. For a long time unavailable in print, this is the original translation by Karl Hillebrand.

Genres: Philosophy, German Literature

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1836

About the author

Arthur Schopenhauer was born in the city of Danzig (then part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; present day Gdańsk, Poland) and was a German philosopher best known for his work The World as Will and Representation. Schopenhauer attempted to make his career as an academic by correcting and expanding Immanuel Kant's philosophy concerning the way in which we experience the world.

He was the son of author Johanna Schopenhauer and the older brother of Adele Schopenhauer.

Reviews

[Erick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Schopenhauer complains more than any philosopher I’ve read. The introduction is filled with his whining about how Kant and himself were treated. It doesn’t make for enjoyable reading. It seems one of his main gripes is that the universities of his day were still under the control of people with Christian leanings. It is interesting that 200 years later quite the opposite is the case. Universities are now under the control of atheistic communists. Of course, the fact that Marx was a Hegelian would probably give Schopenhauer the means of dissociating himself from any influence on that.

Schopenhauer’s philosophy regarding the will is not easy to pin down because it goes far beyond simple volition or desire. What philosophers used to refer to as soul, or vital principle, Schopenhauer refers to as will. Once one realizes Schopenhauer has simply substituted soul with will, most originality ceases. Schopenhauer’s will is a metaphysical principle. It existed before the cosmos and manifests itself in everything organic and inorganic. It’s not hard to see the Hindu concept of prana lurking behind Schopenhauer’s philosophy here. Taking into account his interest in Hindu religion, the influence seems obvious. Given the fact that this will is clearly a supernatural force, it would be easy to level at the atheistic Schopenhauer the criticism that he is attempting to bring in a theistic concept through the backdoor. I did note that both Schelling and Schopenhauer want to make reason a secondary principle to activity. At least Schelling made reason a transcendent principle (albeit a secondary one); Schopenhauer makes reason only an after effect of will entering into physical existence. Schopenhauer’s will is dumb. It has no particular aim because reason/knowledge only comes into play when there is a world of representations and stimuli. Here Schopenhauer brings in the theory of evolution to describe how will is manifested in the world. He certainly predates Darwin in his description of life being determined by environment, but the truth is evolution was already a theory prior to Darwin. One of the main pioneers of evolutionary theory was Jean Baptiste de Lamarck. Schopenhauer refers to him quite a bit here. I was already aware of his role in evolutionary thought. Saying all that to say, even here Schopenhauer isn’t very original. Schopenhauer goes from evolutionary defenses of his notion of will, to occult defenses. He brings in supposed evidence from experiments in psychokinesis and other such anecdotal evidence. I couldn’t help thinking of Aleister Crowley’s thelema and the occultic concept of vril while reading all of this. It’s almost impossible to say exactly what Schopenhauer’s will is because it manifests itself in a plethora of ways. Supposedly it’s empirical, but Schopenhauer has no problem with making it incredibly abstract as well.

I had intended to read all three volumes of Schopenhauer’s World as Will and Idea, but I will only be able to tolerate reading the abridged version. His writing style has been taxing my patience and I wasn’t all that impressed with this book. I give it about 2-and-half stars. His doctrine of will is far too nebulous to be of any practical utility. He also trivializes reason, which makes his philosophy rather irrational. I actually read this in a different edition than I listed here. The edition I purchased also included On the Fourfold Root as well. I already read that work so I didn’t want to bother with separating that edition here on goodreads. It is the same translator though.

[MJD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting read. Besides the philosophical value (the most important part - in my view - is his clear description of what he means by "will", which clears up his other writings that reference this concept), it seems to serve as a good time capsule of the intellectual climate of the time (i.e. he discusses what people at the times thought about philosophy, religion, biology, physics, etc.).

[Gustman17 · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este volumen -uno de los pocos escritos del autor que no forman parte de sus dos obras magnas (El Mundo como Voluntad y Representación, y Parerga y Paralipomena)- Schopenhauer reúne varios ensayos en los que relaciona el estado del arte de varias disciplinas científicas con los postulados de su sistema filosófico de la Voluntad. El objetivo de Schopenhauer es corroborar la validez de su filosofía en varias aristas de la naturaleza tal como han sido mostradas en diversos trabajos de la ciencia de la época, concluyendo que su teoría metafísica de la Voluntad como principio metafísico primero, como realissimum, como noumeno y causa primera de todo acontecer, es algo con lo cual todas las disciplinas estudiadas por él han llegado a la misma idea.

El problema, que pudiera tanto resaltar el interés contemporáneo en esta obra tanto como pudiera reducirlo, es que la ciencia que maneja Schopenhauer está invariablemente atrasada en más de un siglo y medio. Por ejemplo, uno de los capítulos trata sobre el Magnetismo Animal de Mesmer, disciplina que eventualmente derivó en el hipnotismo pero bajo tesis que hoy generan incredulidad (la existencia de un líquido magnético que se traspasa de una persona a otra), sin olvidar que este capítulo también discute la Magia bajo el supuesto de que la ciencia no puede descartar hechos que desconoce. El problema nuevamente es que esto da oportunidad a Schopenhauer para buscar en su sistema filosófico una plausible explicación, dejando la sensación de que la treta del autor consistió en buscar la palabra "Voluntad" en distintos libros y estudios para luego añadirlos a la lista de corroboraciones que presenta en este volumen. Por lo demás, las extensas citas que utiliza pudieran resultar de poco interés para algunos lectores (o al menos este fue mi caso).

Sería interesante leer trabajos similares que relacionen la filosofía de Schopenhauer con el estado del arte científico actual. Pero de mayor interés resulta el recorrido en este anticuario científico por las explicaciones que ofrece de diversos aspectos de su intrigante sistema filosófico (en particular el capítulo de Astronomía).

[Franco · Rating 1 out of 5]

Juzgo al traductor, no a Schopenhauer. Yo, que no sé ni una oración en alemán, quizá habría disfrutado más leyendo el original que leyendo... a Unamuno. Conjeturo tres posibilidades que explican la existencia de esta traducción.

Una del orden de la deshonestidad. A Unamuno le disgustó tanto el libro de Schopenhauer que se propuso que los hispanohablantes conociéramos un libro muy malo: que desmoraliza no por su contenido, sino por ser ilegible desde un punto de vista formal.

La segunda conjetura enaltece a Unamuno. Le gustó tanto el libro que arteramente se acometió a la tarea de arruinarlo, incitando a los lectores de su traducción que vayan a buscar el original en alemán. Toda traducción, habría pensado Unamuno, será siempre menos que el original.

Una última posibilidad es que Unamuno se manifieste aquí decididamente incompetente. Confío en que este no es el caso; espero que la razón por la que leí un libro, una traducción tan insoportable sea más compleja.

Sea como fuere, en esta traducción no nos habla el Schopenhauer que conocemos y del que tanto disfrutamos.

[Trilce]

La manifestación de la materia representa el conocimiento, una vez concebido y objetivado a través de la sensibilización adquirida del cuerpo. La voluntad innata en el hombre, es principio de vida, y es eterna, primaria, instintiva, a priori del nacimiento del organismo, lo condiciona. En cambio, el intelecto, unido a la voluntad, es controlado por el organismo, está a merced de continuas alteraciones que dependen del ambiente, determinando su desarrollo. Schopenhauer introduce el concepto de “Decisión electiva”, como la motivación absoluta en el fenómeno del acto que exterioriza, y es inmutable en el carácter individual. Lo diferencia del “Libre albedrío”, que consiste en movimientos voluntarios sin fenómeno de causa.

[Martin Shone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this is a mix between wading through treacle and bathing in sunshine. He also complains so much at the beginning about his work that I've actually forgotten what he was complaining about! I almost gave up, but persevered.

Also, this edition (Maestro Reprints) is too large a book making it a tad awkward to hold and read and there are typos such as spaces where they shouldn't be, for example there fore instead of therefore and know ledge instead of knowledge, but this is just nitpicking.

[Ismael Gutierrez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not an enjoyable book to read. Schopenhauer's "will to live" main tenet is barely developed here. Some of the chapters are really discombobulating, in the worst possible way. It has many instances, though, in which the reader can find true gemstones regarding his views on race, politics religion and other controversial issues.

[Andreas Schriefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great but little work by the philosophical master Arthur Schopenhauer.

[Henrique Cassol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schopenhauer discorre, nesse ensaio, a sua visão teleológica sobre a vontade na natureza, que a considera como sendo parte fundamental da vida sobre todas as coisas. Segundo Schopenhauer: "o pássaro voa por ter asas, o touro chifra por ter chifres e não o contrário". Ele é assim por que assim o quer. É uma vontade de sua natureza (não confundir com consciência ou arbítrio, que são outras coisas), do contrário "o animal teria existido na representação antes de existir na realidade ou em si", seria uma vontade externa a ele, o que não faria sentido.
Não é considerada a sua obra-prima, mas tem passagens importantes e interessantes.

[Rodrigo Medel · Rating 4 out of 5]

La extensión de la cosmovisión de Schopenhauer a la naturaleza. En el afán por otorgar sustento empírico a su metafísica, el autor revisa diversos campos de las ciencias naturales donde se verificarían los aspectos centrales de su doctrina. Si bien actualmente muchas de sus afirmaciones pueden ser cuestionadas a la luz del conocimiento científico actual, en su momento constituyeron un buen intento por objetivar la metafísica de Schopenhauer en la representación de la voluntad.

[Manuel Sánchez]

I read this in 2012

[Diego Fernando · Rating 4 out of 5]

fundamental

[Ricardo Díaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schopenhauer = Famous crush 😍