Schopenhauer on the Will, Essence, and Metaphysical Explanation

In this chapter, I outline Schopenhauer's views on the Will, especially as they relate to metaphysical explanation. I also describe some puzzles about the very meaning of “Will,” as Schopenhauer introduces it, and argue that there are interpretive benefits to privileging his descriptions of the Will as the essence of all things. Finally, I suggest that Schopenhauer’s theory of the negation of the Will can be charitably read as a piece of bold metaphysics, according to which real essences can change. All this leaves a number of unresolved puzzles and interpretive questions. My hope is to show that these puzzles and questions invite further attention from Schopenhauer’s readers and from contemporary metaphysicians alike.