The possibility of the multiplicity of phenomenon through the unity of the will as thing-in-itself: a study on the philosophy of Schopenhauer

• Grant number: 11/21154-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2012
• End date: September 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Metaphysics
• Principal Investigator: Oswaldo Giacoia Junior
• Grantee: Lucas Lazarini Valente
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims an introduction to the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer through the study of his Metaphysics of Will. This choice is justified by the central role played by conclusions and concepts elaborated in the second book of "The world as will and representation", where the mentioned metaphysic is developed. Among those concepts, we find the identification of the Will with the kantian thing-in-itself. It is from this concept that Schopenhauer understands nature as a whole, as well as his considerations concerning ethics and "aesthetics" depends upon it. In his ethics, Schopenhauer exposes his theory of action, according to which human actions are not free, given the fact that they are determined by our will. As individual will, our will is predetermined. This predetermination takes place when the thing-in-itself, as such absolutely free, becomes visible, showing itself into the phenomenal world. Schopenhauer calls this process "the objectification of the will", and it generates the whole of our experience. It is through this process that the inteligible character of each individual is forged, upon which motives act and have the action as result. This action, considering the schopenhauerian premisse, is determined beforehand. With our study, we intend to analyse the author's exposition about the process of constitution of the world and of everything within it. We look for an answer to the following main question, among others: how is it possible for the Will, characterized for its unity and indivisibility, to produce the infinity of individual charaters found among men, its higher degree of objectification? (AU)