Wednesday, 10 October 2018

Explaining Schopenhauer with the Help of Albert Einstein, Match.com and Tinder

Einstein quoted Schopenhauer: Der Mensch kann was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will
Man can do what he will (he can choose what he wants to do) but he cannot will what he wills (he cannot choose what he desires because this is a matter on which he was not consulted)
So, a man, on Match.com or Tinder, will exercise his reason and use powers of rational discernment to make choices from the profiles of women on display, perhaps by swiping them left or right. What he cannot choose is the fact that he was driven to Match.com or Tinder at all, a place where he knew he would find an array of the tits, fanny and arse that he desired or, in the case of women, the cock and arse that they desire. Thus desire or, as he calls it - "will" - (and biology too) precedes reason.
Einstein uses this quotation to deny free will but I think this is a different issue entirely.

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