Schopenhauer’s Biophilosophy

Schopenhauer himself never used the term “biophilosophy.” After all, biology did not yet exist as a separate discipline in his time. Nevertheless he takes his metaphysical explanation of the world from the essence of living things. According to him, all sciences use the principle of sufficient reason, but never get to what things are in themselves. There would be no way to penetrate the fortress, if the philosopher himself were not always right in the middle. As an individual, he is both a knower and a body. Causality is immediately revealed by introspection as the will to live. From there, Schopenhauer concludes by analogy to other living beings, and even to the whole of nature. He tries to convey his interpretation always in accordance with the sciences, in the sense of “empirical metaphysics.” In this book, the prerequisites of Schopenhauer’s approach at his time are outlined, which are also compared to today’s views.