What If The World is Actually a Prison? | The Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer

What if this world is actually one giant prison? When the 19th-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer observed the amount of pain that we experience during our lifetimes, he concluded that it’s not happiness and pleasure we’re after, but a reduction of the ongoing suffering that’s an inherent part of existence. When looking through the grim lens of Schopenhauer’s philosophy as he compares this world to a prison — or, more specifically: to a penitentiary — we start to see some astounding similarities.

As is the case with prison, no one (in general) chooses to be here. We can’t leave until our sentence ends or unless we ‘end’ it ourselves; we’re limited by the walls of time closing in on us as each day brings us closer to death; and within the confines of our limitations, we generally experience a stream of suffering, tragedy, worry, and misery. We desperately go from one pleasure to another just to experience temporary relief from pain.

In the process, the organisms that inhabit the Earth, driven by what Schopenhauer called will-to-live, feed on each other in an attempt to survive, just so they can prolong their miserable lives a bit longer. Like prison gangs, the species of the world are entangled in a continual war for dominance. “Eat or be eaten,” seems to be nature’s order when we look at how plants, as well as certain animals, only serve as food for other animals, who themselves succumb to the destructive presence of human beings.

Humanity, in turn, while exploiting its own members, and draining its natural habitat of resources, falls prey to some kind of disease or disaster. When we remove the veil of ignorance and behold the harsh reality we live in, we might start to question, as Schopenhauer does, the idea that, I quote, "this world is the successful work of an all-wise, all-good, and, at the same time, all-powerful Being." End quote. For Schopenhauer's view of the world is one of agony — devoid of divine grace — and it has much more in common with a “penal colony” than with the creation of a benevolent deity.

Now, seeing the world as a prison sounds like a recipe for personal misery. Why not adopt a more positive, more hopeful perspective? Why look at it with such pessimism? Well, Schopenhauer’s idea comes with a twist. Within his pessimistic worldview lies an outlook that could be very beneficial to humanity. Based on his essay On the Sufferings of the World, this video explores Schopenhauer’s pessimistic outlook on life and reveals a secret to be gained from it.

Schopenhauer stated that (as opposed to what many people think) not pleasure but pain is the positive element of existence. He argued that evil is what makes its existence felt and is, by way of that, positive. Good, on the other hand, is negative — it is but the removal of a disturbance. The state of happiness and contentment is nothing more than a desire fulfilled or the end of some state of pain.

So, the experience of pain is the source of our desires and needs. Hunger, for example, is a state of discomfort (which has the potential of becoming painful) that leads to us desiring food. Thus, eating is not a positive experience as it’s only considered pleasurable because it fulfills a desire that is derived from pain, or a sense of lack. According to Schopenhauer, pain far outweighs pleasure in this world.

And the pleasure we incur is often less pleasurable than we expected, while the pain is much more painful. We only have to look at an animal who’s eating another animal, and compare the pleasure of eating with the pain of being eaten, to decide which one of the two outweighs the other. Schopenhauer not only calls life a disappointment, but also a cheat. Life, generally, becomes more painful when we age, as we experience tragedy after tragedy while we become increasingly prone to sickness and death.

And even though life unfolds as a string of misfortunes, when we're still young and idealistic the world just looks so promising. But all of our high hopes eventually erode and we end up disappointed an...