"Arthur Schopenhauer's Philosophical Views on Magic and the Supernatural" by Jimi Grigori

Arthur Schopenhauer's Philosophical Views on Magic

and the Supernatural

    Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), the German philosopher renowned for his pessimistic worldview and profound influence on thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, and Richard Wagner, occupies a unique position in the history of Western philosophy. His magnum opus, The World as Will and Representation (1818, expanded in 1844), posits that the phenomenal world we experience through our senses is merely a representation, a veil masking the true essence of reality: the Will. This Will is a blind, insatiable force driving all existence, manifesting in endless striving and suffering. While Schopenhauer's core philosophy draws from Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism and Eastern traditions like Buddhism and Hinduism, he also ventured into realms often dismissed by rationalist philosophers—magic and the supernatural. These topics were not peripheral curiosities for Schopenhauer; they served as empirical corroborations of his metaphysics, demonstrating how the Will could transcend the boundaries of space, time, and causality.

    Schopenhauer's engagement with magic and the supernatural emerged from personal experiences and a critical examination of paranormal phenomena. In his later years, particularly after settling in Frankfurt in 1833, he reported visions of his deceased father and living mother, which sparked his interest in apparitions and occult practices. He critiqued fraudulent claims but argued that authentic instances of magic, animal magnetism (an early form of hypnosis or mesmerism), clairvoyance, and spirit-seeing revealed the Will's direct influence on the world. This essay explores Schopenhauer's views on these subjects, primarily through his works On the Will in Nature (1836) and Essay on Spirit-Seeing and Everything Connected Therewith (1851). By integrating these ideas into his broader philosophy, Schopenhauer challenged the disenchantment of the modern world, proposing that philosophy and magic are intertwined as "practical metaphysics." Over approximately 3000 words, we will examine the metaphysical foundations, key texts, implications, and legacy of his thought on these matters.

The Metaphysical Foundations: Will, Representation, and the Supernatural

    To understand Schopenhauer's views on magic and the supernatural, one must first grasp his dualistic ontology. Drawing from Kant, Schopenhauer distinguished between the world as representation (the phenomenal realm governed by space, time, and causality) and the world as Will (the noumenal, thing-in-itself). The Will is unitary, eternal, and non-rational—a ceaseless striving that objectifies itself in the multiplicity of phenomena. Human beings, as microcosms of this Will, experience it inwardly through desires and emotions, but externally, it appears as the natural world and its laws.

    Schopenhauer argued that supernatural phenomena bridge these realms, allowing the Will to bypass representational constraints. Magic, for instance, is not ritualistic hocus-pocus but the direct application of the Will to alter reality. He posited that all humans possess latent magical potential because, at the fundamental level, we are one with the Will. In The World as Will and Representation, he hints at this by describing the Will as the "kernel" of existence, but it is in his later essays that he explicitly links it to occult practices. Unlike empiricists who dismissed the supernatural as illusion or fraud, Schopenhauer saw it as evidence against materialism. He rejected the "theory of disenchantment," insisting that philosophy must synthesize with magic to reveal the Will's practical dimensions.

    This perspective aligns with his atheism and pessimism: the supernatural is not divine intervention but the raw, amoral Will irrupting into the phenomenal world. Ghosts, clairvoyance, and magic are not proofs of an afterlife or benevolent spirits but manifestations of the Will's blind force, often leading to more suffering. Schopenhauer's interest was empirical yet philosophical; he sifted through reports of paranormal events, criticizing ignorance while affirming those that fit his system. He believed these phenomena confirmed Kant's ideality of space and time, as clairvoyance transcends spatial limits and magic overrides causality.

Personal Experiences and Investigative Approach

    Schopenhauer's fascination with the supernatural was not abstract; it stemmed from personal encounters. In 1833, upon arriving in Frankfurt, he experienced an apparition of his dead father alongside his living mother, prompting him to delve into parapsychology. Earlier, a prophetic dream in Berlin warned him of cholera, reinforcing his belief in precognition. These events led him to study animal magnetism, magic, and spirit-seeing, viewing them as windows into the Will.

    He approached these topics critically, acknowledging that most studies were "ignorant or fraudulent." Yet, he insisted on authentic cases, explaining them metaphysically rather than materially. For Schopenhauer, the supernatural was not "super" to nature but an extension of it, where the Will operates beyond physical laws. He drew from Franz Mesmer's animal magnetism, praising it as "the most significant and pregnant of all discoveries," though it "propounds rather than solves riddles." This investigative stance reflects his broader philosophy: empirical evidence must corroborate metaphysical truths.

Animal Magnetism and Magic in “On the Will in Nature”

    In “On the Will in Nature”, Schopenhauer dedicates a chapter to "Animal Magnetism and Magic," arguing that these phenomena empirically validate his metaphysics. Animal magnetism, popularized by Mesmer, involves a supposed fluid or force transferred between individuals, inducing trance states, healing, or clairvoyance. Schopenhauer reframed it as the Will's direct action: the magnetizer's strong Will influences the patient's body or mind, bypassing causality. He cited experiments where magnetizers induced catalepsy or clairvoyance, asserting that "no act of Magnetism can take effect without the will." 

    Magic, similarly, is the Will's "immediate power" over nature. Schopenhauer distinguished between left-hand (malevolent) and right-hand (benevolent) magic, doubting demons but affirming the Will's role in transformations. He referenced historical magicians like Giulio Cesare Vanini and Giordano Bruno, suggesting their feats anticipated his philosophy. For Schopenhauer, magic is "practical metaphysics," where the Will alters the world as representation by accessing the noumenal realm. A powerful Will, like that of a magician, can influence the "World as Will," with changes reflecting back into phenomena as supernatural events. 

    This chapter positions magic as corroboration: if the Will is the thing-in-itself, then phenomena like telepathy or psychokinesis demonstrate its transcendence of representational limits. Schopenhauer drew from contemporary reports, such as those in Dietrich Georg von Kieser's Archiv für den thierischen Magnetismus, to support his claims. He emphasized that magic depends on the human Will, not rituals, paralleling his ethics where denying the Will leads to salvation.

Spirit-Seeing and Apparitions in the 1851 Essay 

    Schopenhauer's Essay on Spirit-Seeing and Everything Connected Therewith, part of Parerga and Paralipomena, offers a detailed analysis of ghosts, visions, and related phenomena. Responding to Kant's Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, he provides an "idealistic explanation" opposing spiritualist dogmatism. Apparitions, he argued, arise from the brain's "dream organ," which generates images without external stimuli, as in dreams. Ghosts occur in liminal states—dark, quiet rooms—where the brain shifts from external to internal processing, producing ethereal visions. 

    Yet, these are not mere hallucinations; they have an objective counterpart in the Will. Schopenhauer suggested that strong connections between individuals allow the Will to manifest shared apparitions, blurring subjective and objective reality. Clairvoyance and precognition confirm the ideality of time and space, as the Will operates beyond them. He viewed these as rare convergences of noumenal forces, hopeful that future science would elucidate them. This essay synthesizes psychology and metaphysics, portraying the supernatural as the Will's irruption into consciousness.

Implications for Philosophy and Criticisms

    Schopenhauer's views imply that the supernatural is integral to understanding reality. By explaining magic and apparitions through the Will, he bridges science and occultism, anticipating parapsychology. This challenges Enlightenment rationalism, suggesting that disenchantment ignores the Will's mystical dimensions. His ideas influenced occultists like Aleister Crowley, who emphasized will in magic, and psychologists like Freud, whose unconscious echoes the blind Will.

    Critics, however, argue Schopenhauer's reliance on anecdotal evidence undermines his rigor. Modern skeptics view animal magnetism as pseudoscience, and his ghost theories as proto-psychological but unsubstantiated. Philosophers like Nietzsche praised his pessimism but dismissed the occult as eccentric. Nonetheless, his work prefigures interest in the paranormal within idealism. 

Conclusion

    Schopenhauer's philosophical views on magic and the supernatural enrich his metaphysics, portraying them as manifestations of the Will that transcend representation. Through On the Will in Nature and Essay on Spirit-Seeing, he transformed occult phenomena into evidence for his system, rejecting fraud while affirming their reality. In a disenchanted age, he advocated for a synthesis of philosophy and magic, offering a pessimistic yet profound vision where the supernatural underscores life's striving and illusion. His legacy endures in philosophy, psychology, and esoteric thought, reminding us that beneath the veil of appearance lies a willful, mysterious force.