How Desires Control Your Life? - The Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer

Описание: Have you ever tried to understand your desires? Have you wondered where they truly come from? Do they arise from lack or deficiency, as the Platonic tradition suggests? Or do they stem from a deeper, unconscious place?

We’ll begin the video by examining Schopenhauer’s famous quote: “Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.”

So how is this quote linked to our desires? And how does it shape his profoundly pessimistic philosophy?

In his masterpiece “The World as Will and Representation”, first published in 1819, Arthur Schopenhauer introduced the idea that life is driven by an irrational force he called the "will to live."

The book's title might seem complicated, but what he explains is simple and well put. Schopenhauer presents two ways to view the world: The Representation and the Will.

In this video, we will make the distinction between the two and explore how Schopenhauer argues that our desires emerge from the Will, which is a less rational, more instinctive, and chaotic force within us. It is a place driven by unconscious, irrational striving.

In the next video, we will go back a few centuries before Schopenhauer to explore another philosopher he appreciated and studied extensively, Baruch Spinoza.
Spinoza’s concept of desire marked a revolution in philosophical thought with the introduction of the Conatus—a key idea that reshaped how we understand human striving. Unlike Schopenhauer’s more pessimistic view of existence, Spinoza offers a more empowering perspective on our desires and our place in the world.
Stay tuned, thank you for watching.
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Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:55 Will and Representation
03:05 Schopenhauer vs Platonic Tradition
07:18 Schopenhauer vs Spinoza
08:43 On Anxiety
10:21 Notes From Underground

Books
The World as Will and Representation - Arthur Schopenhauer
Parerga and Paralipomena - Arthur Schopenhauer
Essays and Aphorisms - Arthur Schopenhauer
Ethics - Spinoza
Friedrich Nietzsche - The Will to Power
Friedrich Nietzsche - The Gay Science
Civilization and Its Discontents - Sigmund Freud

Paintings - Wikimedia Commons
https://drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Video title suggestions for the al go!:
How Schopenhauer's 'Will to Live' Drives Our Desires
Why Does Life Swings Between Pain and Boredom: Schopenhauer's Philosophy
How Schopenhauer Explains the Irrational Nature of Desire
The Dark and Pessmistic Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer
How Schopenhauer Saw Desire as an Unconscious Force
What is the Will to Live?
How Our Desires Control Our Lives?

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