The World as Will and Idea

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The World as Will and Idea

work by Schopenhauer

Also known as: “Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung”, “The World as Will and Representation”(Show More)

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July 15, 2026

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Arthur Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation posits that reality is fundamentally a blind, irrational force called the "will." This will underlies all phenomena, but it is unknowable through reason. What we perceive are mere representations, shaped by our cognition (space, time, causality). Schopenhauer's philosophy, often termed pessimistic, emphasizes that this ceaseless striving of the will leads to inherent suffering. Liberation, he suggests, can be found temporarily through aesthetic experiences, particularly music, and more permanently through the negation of the will, achieved through compassion and asceticism. His work significantly influenced later existential philosophy and psychology.12

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continental philosophy
Schopenhauer
In his major philosophical work, The World as Will and Representation (1819), Schopenhauer reiterated Kant’s claim that, given the structure of human cognition, knowledge of things as they really are is impossible; the best that can be obtained are comparatively superficial representations of things.
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In his major philosophical work, The World as Will and Representation (1819), Schopenhauer reiterated Kant’s claim that, given the structure of human cognition, knowledge of things as they really are is impossible; the best that can be obtained are comparatively superficial representations of things.
Read More

Arthur Schopenhauer
Active maturity
…als Wille und Vorstellung (1819; The World as Will and Idea). The fundamental idea of this work—which is condensed into a short formula in the title itself—is developed in four books composed of two comprehensive series of reflections that include successively the theory of knowledge and the philosophy of nature,…
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…als Wille und Vorstellung (1819; The World as Will and Idea). The fundamental idea of this work—which is condensed into a short formula in the title itself—is developed in four books composed of two comprehensive series of reflections that include successively the theory of knowledge and the philosophy of nature,…
Read More

drug use
The functions of psychotropic drugs
…German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (The World As Will and Representation), contemplation was the one requisite of aesthetic experience; a kind of contemplation that enables one to become so absorbed in the quality of what is being presented to the senses that the “Will” becomes still and all needs of…
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…German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (The World As Will and Representation), contemplation was the one requisite of aesthetic experience; a kind of contemplation that enables one to become so absorbed in the quality of what is being presented to the senses that the “Will” becomes still and all needs of…
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aesthetics
The aesthetic experience
…knowledge consists aesthetic appreciation (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung [1819; The World as Will and Idea]).
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…knowledge consists aesthetic appreciation (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung [1819; The World as Will and Idea]).
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