Schopenhauer 's On The Sufferings Of The World Essay

Night by Elie Wiesel was heart shattering; The experiences Elie had, undoubtedly affected him and his perception of the world. Elie Wiesel was put through unbearable oppression; torture, starvation, and extreme labor, simply because he didn't fit the nazi standards. Due to his hostile environment he struggled with many things including his faith in God. Throughout the novel Weisel described countless acts of violence between men, causing him to question humanity, and whether or not humanity was present. The theme of Night is inhumanity as described by the pain and vulgarness towards him, along with Weisel losing his faith in God, but also humanity.

Happiness is a reprise from the many trials and turmoil of life, and so it is natural that we should actively seek it. Ironically though, in our naïve belief that we can somehow augment the amount of happiness in our world, we are actually making our world more depressing to live in. Both John F. Schumaker, in The Happiness Conspiracy, and Ray Bradbury, in Fahrenheit 451, argue that our myopic pursuit of happiness is actually counterproductive. The two authors attempt to persuade the reader that happiness is, and should be, an almost-serendipitous byproduct of a truly fulfilling life, and therefore should not be an explicit objective.

Lang, explains through a series of scientific studies that pessimism can sometimes be a better form of seeing life than optimism. Throughout the article studies are being done on different age groups, the youngest group always shows a “sunny” outlook on life while the middle aged group is logical and realistic. Optimism has shown health complications and mental issues in older people (Lang, 2013). I usually do not think negatively about life, but as an improvement I should start seeing life for what it truly is, unpredictable and inconvenient in order to prevent a distasteful lifestyle in the

I judge a philosopher by whether he is able to serve as an example....[Schopenhauer's] greatness is the fact that he faces the picture of life as a whole in order to interpret it as a whole.... Schopenhauer's philosophy should be interpreted ... by the individual ... in order to gain insight into his own misery, needs and limitations and to know the antidotes and consolations; namely, sacrifice of the ego, submission to the noblest intentions, and above all, justice and mercy. He teaches us how to distinguish between real and apparent advancements of human happiness, how neither becoming rich, nor being respected, nor being learned can raise the individual above his disgust as the valuelessness of his existence, and how the struggle for all these good things is given meaning only by a high and transfiguring goal: to win power in order to come to the help of nature, and to correct her foolishness and clumsiness a little — at first, admittedly, solely for oneself, but eventually for everybody.... This is a struggle which in its deepest and innermost nature leads to resignation. (1)

Happiness is one of the most satisfying things a person can have if they want to be sane or even remotely content with life. The definition of happiness is “the state of being happy”, or “pleasure, satisfaction, contentment, etc.” (Google, 2015) All of these feelings are very rewarding for a person to live with on a daily basis, without it I don’t think many people would make it too far in life. You hear stories on the news of someone who tries to commit suicide or of a person who took someone else’s life and wonder what went wrong or where did life go wrong for them.

When it comes to predicting how something will make you feel in the future, you will most likely be wrong. In the book Discovering Pop Culture, edited by Anna Romasino, is the article “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness”. In the article, author Jon Gertner talks about how people think certain things bring them happiness but aren’t as fulfilling as they may think. Gertner gives examples by writing about four men that have been questioning how people predict what will make them happy and how they feel after it happens. Among these men are a psychology professor Daniel Gilbert, psychologist Tim Wilson, economist George Loewenstein, and psychologist Daniel Kahneman. Gertner uses facts from scores of

On the contrary, Schopenhauer perceives that the absurdity of life is more limited than Camus because the absurdity of the human existence comes from intellect. Moreover, the more intellectual one is, the more capable they are of realizing the inherent absurdity of human existence (Guigon, 2001). Thus, according to Schopenhauer, the more intellectually-inclined person is the one who suffers the most from mere existence. Taking this one step further, it can be argued that those of higher intellectual abilities are more likely to commit suicide as they understand the philosophy behind the act (Schopenhauer, 1966). Furthermore, Schopenhauer claims that, “At best we might see our way through the absurdity, and achieve peace by denying the Will and the futile desires that are its most immediate manifestations.” (Solomon, 1988) Schopenhauer acknowledged that the Will is absurd and therefore it should be denied. Schopenhauer saw the human Will as a window to the world behind the representation, which he defined as thing-in-itself. According to Schopenhauer, the entire world is the representation of a single Will, of which the individual Wills are phenomena. Schopenhauer states: “The world as idea is a mirror which reflects the Will. In this mirror the will recognizes itself in ascending grades

"A man never is happy, but spends his whole life in striving after something which he thinks will make him so; he seldom attains his goal, and when he does, it is only to be disappointed; he is mostly shipwrecked in the end, and comes into harbor with mast and rigging gone" (returnofthekings.com). This quote by Arthur Schopenhauer means that a person cannot find happiness when they desire something they think will make them happy. Once they are able to achieve their goal, they are left in disappointment when their necessities vanish. This relates to Fahrenheit 451 and Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy about desire being a cause of unhappiness. Schopenhauer's philosophy relates to the desire for happiness in Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451. The characters in this novel are unhappy because they desire answers, books and desire to escape reality. Arthur believed that "desire never ends" (www.famouspeople.com). "[He] saw desire as the root of suffering and pain" (www.biography.com) the characters in the novel demonstrate just that.

In “On the Sufferings of the World”, Schopenhauer contains radical aspects about the world and humanity. He argues that suffering is intrinsic to human existence and that this suffering is directly caused by the will of the individual. Throughout the essay, Schopenhauer interpretation of suffering contradicts what most philosophers have previously said. He claims that evil is a real thing and good is just the lack of evil. Exploring the reasons why Schopenhauer thinks life is full of suffering.

Schopenhauer explains the origin of all human suffering is the result of selfish desire, and the only way to completely be free from selfish desire is to break away from the self. The only true way to completely break away from the self and dispose of all desire is in death. Schopenhauer's views the body and all creation as the embodiment of the act of will, each part is an objectification for desire ie. tongue to hunger and genitals to reproduction. All creation is the product of of desire, and desire is necessary for our survival, without the body and its desires we would exist as nothing but the mind.

Happiness is a key to everybodys life. Even the most depressed man on earth has a little happiness deep down inside. Its what keeps us striving to fulfil our needs and wants on an everyday basis. There is not one kid who does not get excited over a dollar to spend at the candy shop. What about the feeling of getting a promotion at your job, or even finding the cure for cancer. Being happy is not just healthy, but it is also rewarding for each and every individual. We strive to find anything that will turn a bad day to a good one. Individuals will compromise to attain their happiness. You can not get what you want without giving something first.

All of the pessimism of Arthur Schopenhauer seems to stems from his lack of love interest and desire for pleasure. A lack of a significant other in his life,resulted in his devotions to academics and enlightenment,but socially, he was in isolated in another world. What he was missing was an significant other to share and lighten the burdens of existence.This negativity of love caused him to became so bitter to the ideas of love and procreation, he even view procreating as an “transfer of burden and as a prison sentence to the next generation”. Something caused him to became so distraught with loving a another human, that the only affection he can express is towards animals. All of this pessimism and depression, might have been relieved if he simply found someone to share his frame of mind, brilliance, and achieve the fulfillments from the company of family and loved ones.

Happiness is a result that we deserved, furthermore, it becomes a motivation for us to keep trying and getting success in life.

According to Sigmund Freud’s vision of humanity, Jon is caught in a struggle between unconscious forces; id desires sex, aggression and conflict; ego is concerned with reality checking and social adaptation; and the superego which is concerned with morals and values obtained from parents and society; which require Jon to make compromises to decrease anxiety. These compromises that Jon must make for the sake of personality congruence, and the resulting decrease in psychic energy, can lead to discouragement and a loss of meaning (Reference needed). Unconscious sexual and aggressive urges from the id are overwhelming Jon’s defense mechanisms and reaching consciousness where they cause his negative emotions and worldview.

Unfortunately, Nietzsche’s claim to have a “good life” does not render absolute fulfillment or happiness because experiencing hardships or physical or mental pain previous cannot guarantee a person’s fulfillment or happiness. In fact, there are other ways which establish a person’s willingness to be fulfilled that is more reasonable than pain before pleasure. I must disagree with Nietzsche’s philosophical thought that hardship produces or reinforces a better outcome or transition which manifests a person becoming happier or fulfilled with self.