The Indestructible Will: A Critical Examination of Arthur Schopenhauer’s Theory of Athanasia Jonti Joey Bloomberg Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Prof. Johan Hattingh March/April 2021 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ................................................................................................................................I ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... II ABSTRAK ....................................................................................................................................... III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................ IV PREFACE ......................................................................................................................................... V 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 PART I: AN INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNT OF SCHOPENHAUER’S PHILOSOPHY .......... 11 2. KANT IDENTIFIES THE MIND AS AN ACTIVE ENTITY........................................................ 13 3. THE WORLD AS APPEARANCE: FIRST PART ........................................................................ 23 3.1. SENSATIONS VIS-À-VIS PERCEPTIONS ................................................................ 23 3.2. PRINCIPIUM COGNOSCENDI .................................................................................. 29 3.3. PRINCIPIUM FIENDI AND PRINCIPIUM ESSENDI ................................................ 33 3.4. OBJECTIVE CAUSALITY ......................................................................................... 35 3.5. HETEROGENEITY FROM HOMOGENEITY ............................................................ 38 3.6. SCHOPENHAUER’S ARGUMENTS FOR RADICAL IDEALISM ............................. 39 3.6.1. THE ARGUMENT FROM IMMEDIACY ................................................... 40 3.6.2. THE ARGUMENT FROM INCONCEIVABILITY ..................................... 41 3.6.3. THE ARGUMENT FROM CERTAINTY .................................................... 42 3.6.4. THE ARGUMENT FROM SIMPLICITY .................................................... 43 3.6.5. THE ARGUMENT FROM THE SUBJECT-OBJECT ANTITHESIS ........... 44 3.7. A DISCUSSION ON THREE DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF IDEALISM .................... 45 3.8. CONCLUDING REMARKS ........................................................................................ 61 4. THE WORLD AS WILL: FIRST PART ....................................................................................... 63 4.1. THE WILL AS ASPATIAL ......................................................................................... 65 4.2. THE WILL AS ACAUSAL .......................................................................................... 67 4.3. THE WILL AS ATEMPORAL .................................................................................... 69 4.4. SCHOPENHAUER’S THOUGHT IN RELATION TO HIS PHILOSOPHICAL PREDECESSORS .............................................................................................................. 71 4.5. SCHOPENHAUER’S SELECTION OF THE WORD “WILL” .................................... 72 4.6. THE SOLIPSISTIC PROBLEM ................................................................................... 82 4.7.1. THE ANALOGICAL ARGUMENT ............................................................ 83 4.7.2. THE PRACTICAL EGOIST ARGUMENT ................................................. 84 4.8. THE EXTENSION OF THE WILL TO INANIMATE OBJECTS ................................. 86 4.8.1. THE DING-AN-SICH AS THE SUBSTRATUM OF ALL PHENOMENAL APPEARANCES .................................................................................................. 88 4.8.2. THE ANALOGICAL ARGUMENT ............................................................ 89 4.8.3. METAPHYSICS AS THE FOUNDATION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ............................................................................................................................. 91 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za 4.8.4. THE INCOMPATIBILITY OF THE SCHOPENHAUERIAN PHILOSOPHY WITH THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD .................................................................... 97 4.9. THE PLATONIC IDEAS AS PROTOTYPES FOR THE PHENOMENAL WORLD .. 100 4.10. SCHOPENHAUER’S TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FOR EXTENDING THE WILL THROUGHOUT ANIMATE NATURE ................................................................. 107 4.11. SCHOPENHAUER’S VIEWS ON LOVE AND MALE HOMOSEXUALITY ......... 112 4.12. CONCLUDING REMARKS .................................................................................... 124 5. THE UNRELENTING STRUGGLE OF LIFE ............................................................................ 126 5.1. OPTIMISM AS A PERNICIOUS WAY OF THINKING............................................ 132 5.2. THE EVIL METAPHYSICAL WILL AS THE IMPETUS FOR THE ASCETIC LIFE 138 5.3. THE WILL AS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF DISCORD AND SUFFERING ........ 144 5.4. THE NEGATIVITY OF HAPPINESS THESIS .......................................................... 151 5.5. EXTERNAL CORROBORATIONS OF THE PESSIMISTIC VIEW OF LIFE ........... 155 5.5.1. BUDDHISM ............................................................................................. 156 5.5.2. EVOLUTION BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION ......................... 158 5.6. SCHOPENHAUER’S EVALUATION OF LIFE’S WORTH ...................................... 182 5.6.1. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER NOT TO HAVE BEEN BORN ......... 182 5.6.2. IT IS UNCONSCIONABLE TO BEGET CHILDREN ............................... 184 5.6.3. TO RAPIDLY RETURN TO THE UNCONSCIOUS STATE .................... 186 5.6.3.1. SCHOPENHAUER’S VIEWS ON SUICIDE ............................ 186 5.6.3.2. SCHOPENHAUER’S SOTERIOLOGICAL DOCTRINE .......... 191 5.7. IS A LIFE OF SUFFERING REALLY NOT WORTH LIVING?................................ 195 6. THE SCHOPENHAUERIAN DOCTRINE OF ATHANASIA .................................................... 197 6.1. THE ANXIETY OF DEATH AS A UNIQUELY RATIONAL PHENOMENON........ 198 6.2. THE WILLE-ZUM-LEBEN AS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF THE FEAR OF DEATH ............................................................................................................................ 204 6.3. SOME PRELIMINARY CONSOLATIONS FOR THE INEVITABILITY OF DEATH ......................................................................................................................................... 208 6.4. SCHOPENHAUER’S THEORY OF IMMORTALITY .............................................. 212 6.4.1. THE WILL AS ETERNAL ........................................................................ 217 6.4.2. THE WILL AS UNALTERABLE ............................................................. 218 6.4.3. THE WILL AS A UNITY.......................................................................... 219 6.5. THE DOCTRINE OF PALINGENESIS ..................................................................... 224 6.6. THE EXTENSION OF IMMORTALITY TO NON-HUMAN ANIMALS .................. 228 6.7. SOME DIFFICULTIES PERTAINING TO SCHOPENHAUER’S THEORY OF ATHANASIA ..................................................................................................... 234 6.7.1. A MULTIDIMENSIONAL DING-AN-SICH............................................. 234 6.7.2. THE WILL AS THE ORIGIN OF FUGA MORTIS ................................... 235 6.7.3. THE EVIL METAPHYSICAL WILL ........................................................ 236 PART II: CRITICISMS PERTAINING TO SCHOPENHAUER’S THEORY .......................... 238 7. THE WORLD AS APPEARANCE: PART TWO ....................................................................... 239 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za 7.1. THE ARGUMENT FROM IMMEDIACY ................................................................. 239 7.2. THE ARGUMENT FROM INCONCEIVABILITY .................................................... 240 7.3. THE ARGUMENT FROM CERTAINTY .................................................................. 241 7.4. THE ARGUMENT FROM SIMPLICITY .................................................................. 242 7.5. THE ARGUMENT FROM THE SUBJECT-OBJECT ANTITHESIS ......................... 243 7.6. THE STATUS OF THE MIND: A PHENOMENAL OR METAPHYSICAL ENTITY? ......................................................................................................................................... 244 7.7. THE INCOMPATIBILITY OF SCHOPENHAUERIAN RADICAL IDEALISM WITH EVOLUTIONISM ............................................................................................................ 246 7.8. TIME, SPACE AND CAUSALITY AS MIND-INDEPENDENT ............................... 267 8. THE WORLD AS WILL: PART TWO ....................................................................................... 276 8.1. THE WILL AS A CONCEPT..................................................................................... 276 8.2. KNOWLEDGE OF THE WILL AS A PRODUCT OF INTELLECTUAL INTUITION ......................................................................................................................................... 281 8.3. THE WILL AS SUBJECT TO THE PRINCIPIUM INDIVIDUATIONIS