The role of the body in Schopenhauer’s ethical thought

Abstract

This paper aims at demonstrating the body’s fundamental participation in Schopenhauer’s Ethics. When one takes as a starting point the world as representation, the body is the objectivation of the Will, its most immediate way of manifesting itself in the world. But, on the other hand, if one analyzes the world on the Will’s perspective, the body is the Will itself, lived and experienced by means of the very own motives that rule this desiring object. By postulating the Will, one and non-perishable, as the ultimate ground of reality – as Schopenhauer does – there is no way to neglect the body and human suffering. And this is not without consequences for Ethics. According to the philosopher, Ethics lies neither in good intentions nor in the search for some spiritual or transcendent good, but it exists concretely in individuals’ efective actions, that are driven to other individuals – perceived, before anything else, as suffering bodies.