Schopenhauer's philosophy of pessimism

Philosophy professor and co-host of Overthink podcast Ellie Anderson explains philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's belief that life is suffering, and what distinguishes humans from other animals.

This video was created for Professor Anderson's Spring 2021 "Continental Thought" course at Pomona College. The text referenced is The Essential Schopenhauer, ed. Wolfgang Schirmacher.

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[coolworx]

Schopenhauer and Camus are my touchstones against suicide.
They both have such empathy for the human condition, that their understanding and description - without the usual "enlightenment" pablum - is the salve that stings at first, but consistently delivers relief.

[naimacherqi]

He's a genius..." If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it "

[cuttlefisch]

Schopenhauer is my man. A true visionary.

[Fromard]

I have to say that after 62 years of living that Schopenhauer's observation below is spot on.

"“When you find human society disagreeable and feel yourself justified in flying to solitude, you can be so constituted as to be unable to bear the depression of it for any length of time, which will probably be the case if you are young. Let me advise you, then, to form the habit of taking some of your solitude with you into society, to learn to be to some extent alone even though you are in company; not to say at once what you think, and, on the other hand, not to attach too precise a meaning to what others say; rather, not to expect much of them, either morally or intellectually, and to strengthen yourself in the feeling of indifference to their opinion, which is the surest way of always practicing a praiseworthy toleration. If you do that, you will not live so much with other people, though you may appear to move amongst them: your relation to them will be of a purely objective character. This precaution will keep you from too close contact with society, and therefore secure you against being contaminated or even outraged by it. Society is in this respect like a fire—the wise man warming himself at a proper distance from it; not coming too close, like the fool, who, on getting scorched, runs away and shivers in solitude, loud in his complaint that the fire burns.”

[spinalreset]

Schopenhauer is one of my favorite writers.

[DwightShrute]

Schopenhauer was the final push I needed to commit to a meditation practice. Understanding his idea of the Will consoled why I'd found it so difficult to just be, and not do.

[michaelshannon]

Our very existence is premised upon lack, insufficiency and our constant response to this. If I dont eat, sleep, work I die. If I dont have good friends, meaningful activities or a thriving sex life i suffer. If I am born to bad parents, end up with disease or burdened with some physical or psychological ailment I experience pain. If I am deprived of the many needs and wants that I was endowed with by mother biology, I suffer. This very premise is awful as the capacity to take control of all these matters can be, for many, impossible. We are bullied into action by fear and suffering. We rely on out minds ability to cloud its own judgements by fantasy, wishful thinking, etc.

[ryanburns]

My cat doesn’t care what other cats think of him . He’s in the moment, present at all times

[erykamarillya]

I loved your capacity to explain such abstract and deep philosophy in such clear and didactic way. Congratulations! 👏

I would like to add that Schopenhauer's view about the vail of Maya and the lack of reason of existence has a connection with the knowledge theory of Kant, to whom the causality rule exist only in our minds, it is a way to know the world, not necessarily the rule of the world itself. That's why we can say that the world exist "without reason". And from this comes everything else, all the absurdity of life.

[contemplativepursuits]

The Grand Master - Arthur Schopenhauer ❤

[alishaukat]

Seeing the smile and liveliness on your face while discussing Schopenhauer is quite an irony.

[jceezee]

Best explanation of Rustin Cohle I've seen.

[sancho]

When you realize that humans are no different from any other living organism or earth, everything starts to make perfect sense. We’re not special and we don’t have some kind of special destiny

[Jussaynoh]

Well done.
I hope you’ll summarize Peter Wessel Zappfe and Thomas Metzinger in the future.

[genericusername]

He sounds like my spirit animal. Crossing my fingers for a lecture on Cioran.

[eddiebeer]

I love Schopenhauer. Hard to argue with his philosophy.

[frankchilds]

I agree with Schopenhauer on his outlook, but I must say your video presentation does bring me joy.

[GS-gqis]

I always appreciate your thoughtful analysis. You have a real gift.

[victorsabater]

I liked the clear and easy way to show us schopenhauer. Congratulations.

[donaguirre]

This was awesome. Thank you for sharing this lecture.