Question

Unpack why Schopenhauer interprets life as amounting to suffering. Is Schopenhauer right to suggest that the pleasures in life (including love) are too fleeting and riddled with problems to be worth their weight?

Answer 1

Schopenhauer was a German Philosopher. He says that sufferings are the part of life. These should be taken as the general rule of life. These should not be treated as exceptions. There remains various wishes in our life. These wishes can not be full filled completely.

These uncompleted desires and wishes cause the pain and sufferings in life. He says that life doesn't only mean happiness and charm. It does not mean a complete heaven. It should be considered as closer to hell. According to him, real meaning of life is to get rid of these sufferings and to attain the status of nirvana.

If we have no place for desires then only we can remain happy. He says that there should be no desires in life. We humans have no clear cut boundary to determine the extent of desires and wishes. We just keep on desiring throughout our lives.

If someone gets love then it also comes with certain desires. These desires remain oriented towards care and attention of partner most of the time. These desires of care and attention cause generation of unrealistic expectations.

These expectations becomes main cause of suffering. These attain a level which hurt us emotionally. After the break up and separation a person feel enormous pain. It feels like crushing your heart and body at the same time.

This is the result of desire. We should understand that we can not make happy each and everyone. We can not win each and every target. Desires have no end.