Chapter 61 Book IV The World as Will Revisited §61

We remember from the second book that throughout nature, at all levels of objectification of the will, between individuals of all species, there must be a constant struggle, and the inner contradiction between the will to life and itself It is precisely because of this struggle that it manifests itself.At the highest level of objectification, this [struggle] phenomenon, like all other phenomena, manifests itself more clearly; it can thus be further elucidated.For this purpose we shall first of all deal with egoism at its source, which is the point of departure of all struggles. For the multiplicity of like [things] is possible only by virtue of, and only in, time and space, we have called time and space the principle of individuation.Time and space are the basic forms of natural cognition, that is, of cognition arising from the will.The will therefore manifests itself everywhere in the multiplicity of individuals.But this multiplicity does not concern will as a thing-in-itself, but only the phenomenon of will.The will is whole and undivided in every appearance, but all around it sees innumerable likenesses that reproduce its own essence.But this essence itself, which is true reality, it can only find directly within itself.Every man therefore wants to have everything for himself, to possess everything, or at least to control everything, and he wants to destroy everything that resists him.In addition, for those living beings who know, the individual is the bearer of the subject of cognition, and the subject of cognition is the bearer of the world; that is to say, the whole nature outside this body, so all other individuals are only in this body. exists in appearance.This body is always aware of other individuals only as its appearance, that is, indirectly, as something dependent on its essence and existence; because the world must perish for it along with its consciousness, That is to say, when its consciousness disappears, the existence or non-existence of this world will have the same meaning for it and cannot be distinguished.Therefore, each knowing individual is actually, and finds himself, the whole life will or the body of the world itself, and as a representation it is the condition to complement the world; thus, the individual is a microcosm, and it is to be in harmony with the macrocosm. Equivalent.Nature itself is everywhere always frank, independent of all reflective thinking, and has simply, directly and truly given this knowledge to the individual from the beginning.From the two necessary regulations already put forward, it can be explained why every individual, even though it is very small in the boundless world, is so small that it is close to zero, why it still regards itself as the center of the world, and why it must first consider itself before considering other things. Consider your own existence and happiness; why, on the standpoint of this nature, do not destroy the world by sacrificing everything for its own existence, by preserving a little longer for its own drop in the ocean.This psychology is egoism, and it is the essence of everything in nature.But it is precisely because of this egoism that the inner contradictions of the will and itself reach a terrible public expression.This is because egoism has its existence and essence in the opposition of the microcosm and the macrocosm; or in the will, since its objectification has the form of the principle of individuation, and thus can appear in the same way in countless individuals. , and both [Will and Representation] are wholly and fully present in each individual.Therefore, on the one hand, each individual is himself known directly as the complete will and the complete imager [or appearance of appearances], and on the other hand, the rest of the individuals are next to be known only as its representations. , therefore, for this individual, its own essence and its preservation are placed above all else.Everyone regards his own death as the end of the world; the deaths of his acquaintances, if he himself does not necessarily participate in the funeral, he only listens to it as an irrelevant event.In the consciousness that has risen to the highest level, in the consciousness of man, egoism [selfishness] must also reach the highest level with cognition, as well as pain and pleasure; and the individual struggle based on egoism must also will appear in its most dire form.We see this everywhere, in things great and small; but sometimes in terrible ways, in the lives of senseless tyrants and villains, in the wars that wreak havoc on the world. Seen, and sometimes seen in comical ways.On the comical side, this is the subject of comedy, and especially comes across as conceited and vain.No one has understood these things like Rocheforgo, and expressed them abstractly like him.As far as we see this, it is in world history and in our own experience.But the most obvious manifestation of this is that as soon as any group of people lifts all the [restraints] of law and order, then the most obvious self-inflicted warfare will immediately appear.Hobbes describes this very well in the first chapter of The Treatise of the State.Here it can be seen that each one is not only trying to take what he wants from others, but also destroying the whole happiness or life of others in order to increase his own happiness a little.This is the highest expression of egoism.As far as [people and self interests] are concerned, the only things that go beyond this kind of selfishness are those that are truly vicious.Malice is simply an attempt to cause pain to others at the detriment of others, and to do harm without benefiting oneself; we will come to this shortly. —Contrast what I have said about egoism in § 14 of my dissertation "The Foundations of Morals" with what is revealed here about the origin of egoism.

Above we have found that suffering is essential and unavoidable in all life.One of the main sources of pain, as soon as pain is actually and in a definite form, is that [God of Discord] Aerys, that is, the struggle of all individuals, is attached to the will to life, due to individuation. The manifestation of contradictions that can be seen in principle.The wrestling of man-beasts is a cruel means of directly and blatantly visualizing this contradiction, and in this primordial divisive opposition there remains an inexhaustible source of suffering from which, notwithstanding the measures taken against it.We shall now immediately examine this source further.