The philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) on the unconscious has exerted a vast influence on later thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, or Wilhelm Reich.
In his work “The world as will and representation” (1818), Schopenhauer outlined his philosophy of the unconscious. It’s based on his theory of the will, which I translate as “life force” or “prime energy.”
Schopenhauer defined the will as the blind, irrational drive to survive, reproduce, and seek pleasure at any cost. It’s a force that influences all living creatures, and that can prompt human beings to make dire mistakes.
The will encompasses instincts and impulses that Sigmund Freud had named “the unconscious.” Schopenhauer viewed the will as a force operating beyond the realm of awareness. Thus, the will can prompt individuals to act illogically, detrimentally, or foolishly.
Schopenhauer’s definition of the unconscious
According to Schopenhauer, the conscious mind is a surface layer driven by the will; unless you adopt countermeasures, the desires, instincts and impulses created by the will can prompt you to take counterproductive decisions.
Schopenhauer developed decades to identifying measures to counteract the will, minimize suffering and increase happiness. However, in his work “Parerga and Paralipomena” (1851), he admitted that it is easier to minimize suffering than to ensure happiness.
The will can lead to intense pleasure, but also to suffering. I must explain the latter because it is far from self-evident. If the will is trying to protect life, why does suffering take place? We should expect a “life force” to lead always to pleasure, right? I am afraid that this is not the case. Suffering takes place in two ways.
First, the will generates an endless stream of desires. It does not know when to stop. As soon as one desire is fulfilled, new ones emerge. Since it is unworkable to satisfy them all, failure and frustration inevitably ensue.
The inevitable failure and frustration corresponds to Freud’s view of the unconscious as a reservoir of unfulfilled, repressed desires that generate emotional distress.
Second, the will drives individuals to take foolish decisions. All sorts of mistakes, oversights and miscalculations take place when people pursue short-term satisfaction without thinking of the consequences.
You cannot escape the consequences by blaming the will. If the mistakes prove catastrophic, your life may be ruined; if you harm other people, they are going to demand compensation.
Sigmund Freud and the unconscious
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) constitutes the intellectual link between Schopenhauer’s theory of the will and the concept of the unconscious. According to Freud, the mind has three parts: the conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious. The latter corresponds roughly to Schopenhauer’s concept of the will.
Freud’s books present clinical observations confirming that a large share of our thoughts take place in the unconscious, and that they remain below our normal levels of awareness.
According to Freud, the unconscious mind operates on the basis of unfulfilled or repressed desires. Those can prove hard to identify when they have crystallized into distorted memories or symbols.
In his book “General introduction to psychoanalysis” from 1917, Freud created the concept of the “id” for describing the unconscious, primitive instincts seeking immediate pleasure.
I must underline that those instincts seek satisfaction at any cost. They don’t care about social norms, legal acceptability, or long-term consequences. They demand immediate gratification and are hardly amenable to reason, just as Schopenhauer had theorized.
Sigmund Freud and the structure of the mind
Similarly, Freud’s “General introduction to psychoanalysis” created the concepts of the “ego” and “superego,” which match roughly the concepts of conscious and preconscious mind.
According to Freud, the ego must mediate between the wild impulses of the unconscious and all the constraints imposed by reality. Such mediation can consume substantial psychological energies.
Conflicts between the ego and the unconscious (“id”) are fairly common. If conflicts remain unresolved, then emotional disturbances could ensue and require clinical treatment.
In contrast, Freud’s concept of the superego represents all internalized societal norms, moral values, and traditions. Freud was referring to the prohibition of incest, economic constraints and other factors.
Schopenhauer’s advice on the unconscious
Unresolved conflicts between ego and superego can lead to panic, depression and other mental disturbances. Freud focused on psychopathology and treatment and summed up his insights in books such as “The ego and the id” (1923).
Schopenhauer had concentrated on prevention, realizing the steep difficulty of effecting a cure. If you give free range to the will, it can lead you to disastrous actions requiring you to pay a price that you cannot afford.
Would you rather steer away from problems, or spend years undergoing psychoanalysis to figure out if a repression process had led you to distorted memories and distress? Do you prefer to avoid mistakes, or to devote large efforts to correct them?
Freud’s contributions to understanding the unconscious have great importance, but I prefer to adopt Schopenhauer’s advice. Instead of remedying errors, I prefer to prevent them whenever possible.
If you are interested in applying rational principles here and now to solving problems, let me recommend you my book titled “Undisrupted: How highly effective people deal with disruptions.”
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