Political Philosophy and Anthropological Pessimism: Notes on Arthur Schopenhauer’s Political Philosophy

Abstract

In this paper I want to show the link between political philosophy and philosophical anthropology in Schopenhauer’s work. First of all, I deal briefly with the Schopenhauerian anthropological pessimism, his negative view of human nature that affects his political philosophy, aimed at the criticism of selfishness. In order to achieve this, I focus on the main bulwark against this selfishness, that is, the State, which is for Schopenhauer an institution dedicated to protect the individuals. For this reason, I try to show the link of his philosophy with modern contractualism and liberalism. then I introduce the form of government defended by Schopenhauer, monarchy, to emphasise the continuity of his political thought. Finally, I deal with Carl Schmitt’s criticism of Schopenhauer’s philosophy of right and the relationship between anthropology and politics that Schmitt himself presents in The Concept of the Political. In the conclusion, I try to show that Schopenhauer’s political philosophy can be described as a sui generis liberalism.