The thing-in-itself and will in the thought of Schopenhauer

The central claim of Schopenhauer's philosophy is that the thing-in-itself is will. After giving a brief overview of the way in which this claim has been interpreted by other commentators I argue that it has at least six possible interpretations. I assess the relative importance of each, both to Schopenhauer himself and to the commentator attempting to construct the most consistent account of Schopenhauees central doctrines. I argue that Interpretations 1 and 2, according to which the thing-in-itself is identical with the will or the will-to-live, are the most important to Schopenhauer, while Interpretation 3 is the most consistent with his other doctrines. According to Interpretation 3, while the thing-in-itself is will, it also has other aspects, and I argue that these other aspects are the objects of mystical awareness and salvation. According to Interpretation 4 the thing-initself is unknown but is called will in the qualified sense that the will stands nearest to the thing-in-itself, and according to Interpretation 5 the thing-in-itself is called will but only metaphorically; I argue that these two interpretations are less well supported than 1, 2 and 3. Finally, according to Interpretation 6, the will is the metaphysical but non-noumenal essence of the phenomenal world, and I argue that this is suggestive of a world-view that Schopenhauer might well have embraced had his thought continued to develop. Next, I turn to issues of justification. One, is Schopenhauer justified in claiming that there is a thing-in-itself and that it is will? Two, is he justified in claiming that we can have knowledge of the thing-in-itself and know it as will? Three, is he justified in using language to talk about the thing-in-itself and describe it as will? I argue that despite the inadequacies in Schopenhauer's own arguments, other arguments provide some measure of support for his claim that there is a thing-in-itself that we can know and describe as will. In Appendices 1, 2 and 3, I consider how the possibility arises of multiple interpretations of Schopenhauer's fundamental claim that the thing-in-itself is will, my discussion focussing on some of the influences of Kant and Eastern thought on his thinking, and some of the influences of Plato.