A Reconciliation of Arthur Schopenhauer's Notion of Human Suffering and the Nature of Human Existence

Abstract

This paper examined Arthur Schopenhauer's notion of human suffering in relation to the nature of human existence. Schopenhauer's attempt to analyze the cause of human suffering and finding means of escape from it held that the insatiable blind acting of the Will is the cause of human suffering. Schopenhauer preferred nonexistence to existence arguing that human existence is a meaningless enterprise that is totally immersed in endless suffering, pain and despair with no value. The only means of escape from suffering is by negating desires. Adopting analytic method, the paper examined the incessant striving of humans which is the bedrock of human suffering and preference of non-existence rather existence as portrayed by Schopenhauer vis-à-vis the nature of human existence. The paper revealed that man is by nature an open and unfulfilled project. That the desire to always move beyond what already is, to surpass what has already been acquired is an inborn tendency in man. It is a tension-like tendency, an insa????able drive in human beings. This tension gives human the idea of their unfulfilled nature which pushes them to con????nue to strive for perfection in all that they do. This paper, therefore, concludes that human beings' incessant drive or self-transcending effort is not a hopeless striving as Schopenhauer would want us to believe; otherwise suicide could have been the bane of every human. Given that everyday life of human existence is geared towards striving beyond every situation he finds himself, the striving is indicative of man's transcendence
nature and hence dissatisfaction with the present. Thus, human suffering is not hopeless and meaningless venture but a necessity for existence.