The World as Will and Idea, Vol. I — Arthur Schopenhauer, trans. Haldane & Kemp

p. 385

existence so much more miserable than that of the brute. For in general our greatest suffermffl~^~~noFn^iir~t!ie presenF as ideas of perception or as immediate feelings j but in tEi^ reason, as" aB3tricF~''c55ce^^on3, painful fHougHts, from which the brute, which lives only in the present. andn;h^6f6re^in"eifvia,hleliareTe3iaes3rT3"eKtrfe^^^ freeT”""

It seems to have been the dependence, which we have shown, of the human power of deliberation upon the faculty of abstract thinking, and thus also of judging and drawing conclusions also, that led both Descartes and

Spinoza to identify the decisions of the will with the lai^ity of assertihg andrSenylng Tthelaculty of judgme^b From this Descartes deduced the doctrine that the will, which, according to him, is indifferently free,Ts~tKe source ot sin, and also of alI~tHeo^Tcar ei^T 35d'5pinoza7on the other hand, concluded that the will is necessarily determined by the motives, as the judgment is by the reasons.^ The latter doctrine is in a sense true, but it appears as a true conclusion from false premises.

The distinction we have established between the ways in which the brutes and man are respectively moved by motives exerts a very wide influence upon the nature of both, and has most to do with the complete and obvious differences of their existence While an idea of perception is in every case the motive which determines the brute, the nmn strives to exclude this kind of motivation altogether, and to determine himself entirely by abstract ideas. Thus he uses^his prerogative_of reason to the greatest possible advantage. Independent of th^e prese^, he neither chooses nor avoids the jg^sing pleasure or pain, but reflects on the consequences of both. In most cases, se'tSngaiide~qmEe~^n actions, we are determined by abstract, thought motives, not present impressions. Therefore all particular privation for the moment is for us comparatively light, h^t all renunciation is ter-

' Cart. Medit. 4- — Spin. Eth., pt. ii. prop. 48 et 49, cset

p. 386

THE WORLD AS WILL.

BK. IV.

ribly hard; for the former only con^ms_ the fleeting present^ but the latter concerns the future, and includes in itself innumerable privations, of which if Ts 'the equivalent The causes of our pain, as of our pleasure, lie for the most part, not in the real present, but merely in abstract thoughts.

It is these which are often unbearable to us---4nflict torments in comparison with which all the si^rings of .the animal _wqrld,a-re very -stpall; for even our own physical pain is not felt at all when they are present Inched, in the case of keen mental suffering, we even inflict physical suffering on qurs^elves nicrely to distract our attention from the former to the laUejr.

T^is IS why, iu great mental anguish, men tear their hair, beat t^i^ breasts, lacerate their faces, or roll on thej^w^or all these are in realty only violent means of diverting the mind from an unbearable thought Just because ment^ pain,_l:^ing much greater, makes us insensible to“ physical pain, suicide is very ^sy to the person who is in despair, or who is consumed by morbid depression, eveh~ffibiigh formerly, in comfortable^ circumstances, he recoiled at the thought qf it In the^same way care and passion (thus the play of thought) wear out the body oltener and more than physical hardships, And in accordance with this Epictetus rightly says : Tdpaacrei TOU9 avdpwTrovi ov ra TtpaypiaTa, aWa ra Trepi rav •npaypMTcav 8oyp,aTa (^PerCurbant homines non res ipsce, sed de rdyus decreta) (V.) ; and Seneca : Plura sunt quce nos terrent, quam qtice premunt, et scepius opinions quam re laboramvs (Ep.

5). Eulenspicgel also admirably bantered human nature, for going uphill he laughed, and going downhill he wept Indeed, children who have hurt themselves often cry, not at the pain, but at the thought of the pain which is awakened when some one condoles with them. Such great differences in conduct and in life arise from the diversity between the methods of knowledge of the brutes and man. Further, the appearance of the distinct and decided individual character, the