Metaphysics

The World as Will and Representation

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Arthur Schopenhauer

1818

Schopenhauer's magnum opus presents the world under two complementary aspects: as representation — the ordered realm of phenomena structured by space, time, and causality — and as Will, a blind, striving, insatiable force that is the inner nature of all things. Drawing on Kant and Vedantic philosophy, it argues that the suffering intrinsic to existence can only be transcended through aesthetic contemplation, compassion, and ultimately the denial of the will-to-live.