Schopenhauer's Metaphysics

 Schopenhauer's Metaphysics: Everything is Will

Schopenhauer points out his observation that the self is will - we are will. By this, he means that we, ourselves, are ultimately the will to live - the will to expand, the will to preserve, the will to appropriate, the will to forestall, the will to be intact, the will to multiply, and so on. One may also realize this by simply looking at oneself. When you look at yourself right now you will notice that every instance of your life is characterized by will - and first of all the will to live. You wake up in the morning and get out of bed to work or do something because you have the will to live. You do certain actions because of this will. You have the will to expand yourself - it may be in terms of knowledge or physical fitness or something else. You have the will or you are the will. Everything in you is will. 

From this realization, Schopenhauer proceeds to characterize the world in itself as will. It is not just the self that is will - as we have explained earlier. But it is everything that is will. The whole world and everything that exists is will. And this will is singular, indivisible will - it is not subject to the principle of individuation. All is just one will. Everything is one. But, you may ask, that if all is one then why can we see may different individual things? If everything is just one, then, why are there many people (selves), many animals, many chairs, many trees, many oceans, many rocks, just many things? 

For Schopenhauer, all the things that exist, that we see, are just representations of a singular will. Everything is will and everything is just one will. There are multiple selves, objects, and things in the world because there are multiple manifestations of the one will. But again they are just manifestations or representations - they exist altogether with the will. Also, these manifestations of the will (self, plants, animals, objects) have certain levels of will. In the hierarchy of the levels of will, man ranks the highest. It is us, among others, that has the greatest will, because, only us can decide on our own and live life according to our personal desire. Other existent beings and things are lower levels of will, because, they do not possess the power to decide and live life according to their own decision. 

Moreover, these manifestations or objectifications of will are all temporary. Like ourselves, and everything else that exist, we are temporary, we will just die and disappear someday in one way or the other. Everything that exist as a manifestation of the eternal will has a beginning and an end. But the singular will, will not cease. The singular, indivisible will will continue to exist and continue to manifest different manifestations in all eternity. 

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