SCHOPENHAUER‟S PSYCHOLOGICAL WORLDVIEW: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND RELEVANCE PATRIC PLESA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN PSYCHOLOGY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO October 2014 © Patric Plesa, 2014 ii ABSTRACT The complete philosophical works of Arthur Schopenhauer are explored through a comprehensive psychological reading that intends to highlight the holistic theories of human nature that amount to a pessimistic and metaphysical worldview. A thorough analysis of Schopenhauer‟s philosophical concepts, theories, and ideas is conducted in order to construct a clear understanding of his worldview and avoid a reductionsitic approach to a holistic philosophy. From this I initiate a novel theoretical groundwork derived from Schopenhauer‟s philosophy that I have termed a “negative psychology”. I argue that this negative psychology provides a robust understanding of human nature and has applicability in several domains of psychology such as theory of human nature, education, and therapy. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………iii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 Short Biography…………………………………………………………...............3 Introduction to Schopenhauer‟s Philosophy……………………………..............6 Psychological Studies on Schopenhauer‟s Philosophy…………………..............11 Chapter 1: The World as Representation………………………………………………...18 Plato and Platonic Ideas………………………………………………….............19 Descartes and Cartesian Duality…………………………………………………21 Spinoza and the Mind-Body Problem……………………………………………25 Berkeley and Idealism……………………………………………………………27 Kant and Transcendental Idealism……………………………………………….30 Representations…………………………………………………………………..34 Chapter 2: The World as Will……………………………………………………………40 Definition and Genealogy of the Will……………………………………………42 Freedom of the Will……………………………………………………………...44 Character and Will……………………………………………………………….47 The Intellect and Motives………………………………………………………..50 Will-to-Live and the Denial of the Will-to-Live…………………………………54 iv Will-in-Nature……………………………………………………………………59 Chapter 3: On Ethics………………………………………………………......................62 Egoism……………………………………………………………………….......65 Malice……………………………………………………………………………67 Compassion………………………………………………………………………72 Chapter 4: On Aesthetics………………………………………………...........................80 The Platonic Ideas in Art………………………………………………...………83 On Women and Aesthetics…………………………………………….................87 Aesthetic Experiences and Genius……………………………………………….89 On the Types of Art……………………………………………………………...97 Chapter 5: Schopenhauer‟s Pessimism…………………………………………………105 Pessimism and a Happy Life……………………………………………………111 Chapter 6: Schopenhauer‟s Influence on Freud………………………………………...134 The Parallels with Freud………………………………………………………..135 The Unconscious………………………………………………………………..138 On Sexuality…………………………………………………………………….150 Mental Illness…………………………………………………………………...156 Lineage………………………………………………………………………….161 v Conclusion: Schopenhauer‟s “Negative Psychology”….....……………………………166 References………………………………………………………………………………195 1 INTRODUCTION Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) demands of his readers that they carefully study all of his works in chronological order; beginning with his doctoral dissertation On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason (Über die vierfache Wurzel des Satzes vom zureichenden Grunde), that he refers to as the introduction to his main philosophy which is to be found in his two volume principle work The World as Will and Representation (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung), followed by his three essays On the Freedom of the Will (Über die Freiheit des Willens), On the Basis of Morality (Über die Grundlage der Moral), and On the Will in Nature (Über den Willen in der Natur), and finally what he referred to as his peripheral works (because it supplements his principle work), the two volume Pararga and Paralipomena (Parerga und Paralipomena), with the added burden that his principle treatise be read twice for full comprehension (Schopenhauer, 1819/1966). Having met the author‟s demands I endeavor further to fulfill one of his later wishes, namely that his works be carried forward and developed within a context that is ready to embrace his philosophy and expand from it a theory on human nature. In Schopenhauer‟s notebook he once wrote of a desire that his ideas be assembled in some future time when the world would be ready to receive his wisdom, given that his philosophy had not yet attained any popularity at the time (Cartwright, 2010). Although very late in his life Schopenhauer did enjoy some acclaim for his ideas, his mark in philosophy remains somewhat overlooked, especially given the popularity of the German idealists Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762- 1814), and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775-1854) who shared a particular 2 interpretation of Immanuel Kant‟s (1724-1804) philosophy that Schopenhauer adamantly rejected. I here intend to bring Schopenhauer‟s wish to fruition for the benefit of psychology, where his philosophy on human nature may find a more appropriate context to be explored than the 19th century philosophical stream of German idealism. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy1, Arthur Schopenhauer is a difficult figure to categorize within established philosophical streams or branches, primarily because he can be considered a German idealist, though he stood in direct opposition to the figureheads of the movement, and he can also be considered a metaphysician, although he redefined metaphysics as the complete understanding of human nature including experience, epistemology, aesthetics, and ethics (Wicks, 2011). As such, Schopenhauer‟s philosophy amounts to a worldview that attempts to establish the guiding principles toward a complete understanding of human nature, in which he accounts for the subjective experiences of the individual in relation to the objective world; in other words, observable behaviour. The study of psychology often aims at explaining human behaviour and related phenomena through the rigorous exercise of scientific method. In this process the fundamental ground from which psychologists acquire or create their hypotheses is often philosophy, where theories attempting to explain observable phenomena now gain the benefit of experimentation. I argue that Schopenhauer‟s philosophy contains great psychological insight, particularly in the areas of education and what psychologists now call behaviour, motivation, and cognition, and resonates with the holistic ambitions of the 1 I here refer to an encyclopedia entry for a brief overview of Schopenhauer‟s contributions in philosophy. The author, Robert, L. Wicks also wrote a comprehensive book on Schopenhauer that I refer to later for its biographical content. 3 humanistic and positive psychology traditions. From this I propose a framework for a psychological theory derived from Schopenhauer‟s philosophy, that I have termed a “negative psychology” and is explored in the final chapter. The concepts and theories in Schopenhauer‟s philosophy are part of an integrated worldview that if broken down in piecemeal fashion under a reductionist lens, will lose explanatory power and prevent psychology from gaining a comprehensive theory on human nature. This is not to suggest that aspects of Schopenhauer‟s philosophy cannot be studied separately, however, it is a caution to remember that the ambition of this project is to demonstrate that this philosophical worldview is in fact also, if not more so, a psychological worldview. In exploring this worldview I also attempt to make connections between philosophical predecessors to psychological theories and concepts, thereby bridging the gap between these once interchangeable fields, so that both may gain the benefit of the other‟s methods and criticisms. Short Biography Arthur Schopenhauer was born on February 22nd 1788 in Danzig, [now Gdansk, Poland], a city that was later annexed by Prussia. The Schopenhauer family then moved their merchant business to Hamburg. Arthur was of German and Dutch ancestry and came from a long line of merchants that led up to his father Heinrich Floris Schopenhauer (1747-1805), who had intentionally groomed his son to take over the successful family business. However, following Heinrich‟s death (a suspected suicide), Arthur quit his merchant apprenticeship and enrolled at the University of Berlin to pursue studies in medicine and philosophy. His mother, Johanna Henriette Troisiener Schopenhauer (1766–1838) was a respected author and local celebrity, hosting frequent parties at the 4 Schopenhauer household with esteemed visitors such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) (Wicks, 2008). As a child, Arthur had gone on several cross-European trips with his family and was schooled in France and England, thereby learning the official languages of both countries (Cartwright, 2010)2. Throughout his travels he recalls two occasions that had made a profound impact on his outlook on life. The first was a public hanging of three men in England when Schopenhauer was only 15 years old. The scene provided an early encounter with death for the young philosopher, a topic he would dwell on throughout his life. The second, which he would only begin to reflect on seriously while writing On the World as Will and Representation, was a sighting of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), a figure that,