Schopenhauer and Platonic Metaphysics. Towards a new interpretation of the World as Will and Representation (original) (raw)

The traditional interpretation of Schopenhauer's "The World as Will and Representation" sustains the antinomy between the World as Will, considered as blind desire, and the World as Representation, as a rational but illusory view of reality. We'll argue that the notion of representation beyond the principle of reason, and of the will beyond nihilist desire gives us a new view of reality beyond the World itself. To understand our thesis we must acknowledge the impact of Plato's philosophy on Schopenhauerian metaphysics. The World as Will and Representation seems fairly simple to describe, either in the1818's four books first edition, or in the 1844's second edition (containing a second supplementary book to each of the original four books). The first book shows us the world, as we perceive it, as plain representation, in which the term "representation" must be understood as appearance and not as reality. The second book argues reality is, essentially, will, considered prima facie as blind and inexorable desire bringing nothing but suffering to those who live it. The third book stands for art as a mental sublimation for pacifying suffering, as a palliative. Finally, the fourth book suggests compassion and mysticism as a way of freeing ourselves from that suffering as they are the expression of radical renunciation to will, that way allowing closeness to the much-aspired emptiness and nothingness, in this nihilist and pessimist view. We'll argue this interpretation, although generally supported, is superficial and doesn't take into consideration the relevance of platonic reasoning and the Upanishads in Schopenhauer's work. As the author himself highlights,