Single Idea 21367

[catalogued under 16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self]

Full Idea

My body is the only object of which I know not merely the one side, that of the representation, but also the other, that is called 'will'.

Gist of Idea

I know both aspects of my body, as representation, and as will

Source

Arthur Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Idea [1819], I 125), quoted by Christopher Janaway - Schopenhauer 3 'Will'

Book Reference

Janaway,Christopher: 'Schopenhauer' [OUP 2002], p.40


A Reaction

I'm not convinced that knowledge of the body through the will (and action, presumably) constitutes a different sort of knowledge. Philosophers are always trying to split the world in two (but not Nietzsche!).