In his book Studies in Pessimism, Arthur Schopenhauer argues that life for all humans consists of constant suffering in the chapter “On the Sufferings of the World”. He says that even, “the feeling of satisfaction is negative in its character; that is to say, it consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of existence.” In simple terms, Schopenhauer thinks life is inherently miserable and full of suffering. He thinks pleasure is never as pleasant as we expect, but the pain is more painful than we ever expect. This view is unpleasant to think of for most because typically as humans we see our lives being more pleasurable than painful, otherwise all of us would probably be on the brink of suicide (not like that is far from the truth when you look at the increasing suicide rates). Schopenhauer even goes on to say, “The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will be the thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than yourself,”. Simply put, the most comforting thing during the hardest part of our lives (for example, grieving over a friend’s suicide) is the fact that some people are living a life with even more suffering (for example, someone living in poverty who has not had food in days).
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The word suffering might seem extreme in some cases if you are just worrying about a test coming up you wouldn’t describe yourself as “suffering”. However, to Schopenhauer, this is just one moment in time out of billions and trillions where you worry, overthink, and anticipate things in life, which he argues is really just suffering. In addition, Schopenhauer argues that a brute (non-human animal) is inherently living with less suffering than man. Schopenhauer states that “if the brute is free from care, it is also, in this sense, without hope; in either case, because its consciousness is limited to the present moment, to what it can actually see before it”. The brute does not have hope, desire for luxury goods, or constant worry. Think of a pug, that dog does not worry constantly about the pressures of society to marry “on time”, it does not worry about whether it is contributing enough to its capitalistic society when it rests, and it most certainly does not get involved with philosophy causing it to doubt every choice it makes. Sure, because humans have more complex nervous systems than these creatures, they can feel a greater sense of pleasure. But we must also remember that pleasure is freedom from suffering and with greater feelings of pleasure come greater feelings of pain. With all of this information in mind, what advice does Schopenhauer give that does not involve suicide? He simply says that instead of calling someone your “fellow man”, you should refer to them as your “fellow sufferer”. By understanding that we as humans are all constantly suffering, Schopenhauer emphasizes the need for, “tolerance, patience, regard, and love of neighbor”. I honestly find Schopenhauer’s argument hard to disagree with. However, if we assume life is full of suffering, then most would assume that suicide seems like a perfectly logical answer. However, I think it is safe to live, which he argues is really just suffering. In addition, Schopenhauer argues that a brute (non-human animal) is inherently living with less suffering than man. Schopenhauer states that “if the brute is free from care, it is also, in this sense, without hope; in either case, because its consciousness is limited to the present moment, to what it can actually see before it”.
The brute does not have hope, desire for luxury goods, or constant worry. Think of a pug, that dog does not worry constantly about the pressures of society to marry “on time”, it does not worry about whether it is contributing enough to its capitalistic society when it rests, and it most certainly does not get involved with philosophy causing it to doubt every choice it makes. Sure, because humans have more complex nervous systems than these creatures, they can feel a greater sense of pleasure. But we must also remember that pleasure is freedom from suffering and with greater feelings of pleasure come greater feelings of pain. With all of this information in mind, what advice does Schopenhauer give that does not involve suicide? He simply says that instead of calling someone your “fellow man”, you should refer to them as your “fellow sufferer”. By understanding that we as humans are all constantly suffering, Schopenhauer emphasizes the need for, “tolerance, patience, regard, and love of neighbor”. I honestly find Schopenhauer’s argument hard to disagree with. However, if we assume life is full of suffering, then most would assume that suicide seems like a perfectly logical answer. However, I think it is safe to assume that most people do not believe suicide is a perfectly logical way to end one’s suffering (it is a punishable offense to convince someone to commit suicide in certain states). The fact that there is presumably an “easy way out”, yet people choose to continue living their miserable lives is reason enough to believe that life’s pleasurable moments are pleasurable enough to keep living for. I also believe that Schopenhauer lived a life that obviously shaped his viewpoint of things to an extreme case. For example, the chapter “On Women” in his book is nothing more than an extremely insolent and simplified view of women. Our experiences as humans can change the way we think about things, and it seems to me that Schopenhauer lived a life of nothing but misery. I think it is safe to say that even though many of us live our lives with a great amount of suffering, it is the moments that we do not suffer that we remember most, as it is possible to look upon good memories with a loving acceptance without lusting for those times again.
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