The Real Essence of Human Beings

Human beings have the same essence as all other manifestations of will in the world, and this has several consequences for Schopenhauer&s;s conception of humanity. Arthur Schopenhauer makes a number of psychological observations about the interplay of intellect and will. Schopenhauer casts his theory of will from the start in Kantian terms. Schopenhauer notes how infants are full of will at a time when their intellect is hardly developed at all. One of Schopenhauer&s;s major themes is that the will in nature is greater than the individual living being, and has the individual at its mercy. A prime illustration occurs in his discussion of human sexuality. Human happiness is frustrated or rendered impossible by the situation as Schopenhauer describes it. The will intrudes upon, and interferes with, the conscious life. Schopenhauer describes death as the "great opportunity no longer to be I". Lapsing back into the unconscious will of nature is a release from individuality and pain.