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#philosophy #schopenhauer #love #relationship #podcast Arthur Schopenhauer, a 19th-century German philosopher, takes a pessimistic and disenchanted view of love and sex. For him, these experiences are not elevated or idealized, but manifestations of the universal Will. According to his metaphysics, inspired by Kant, the world of objects that we perceive is only a representation, the true reality being the Will, a blind and insatiable force present in all things. Schopenhauer argues that romantic love and sexual attraction serve primarily to perpetuate life through reproduction. He views love as a biological illusion that masks the Will's real intentions: to ensure the survival of the species by creating new incarnations of the Will through children. Thus, our perception of love as a deep and satisfying feeling is for him an illusion, because it is motivated by biological imperatives rather than by noble emotional aspirations. Schopenhauer harshly criticizes the experience of love, calling it irrational and self-destructive. He describes sexual pleasure as fleeting, followed by dissatisfaction that reinforces a cycle of desire and suffering. For him, the act of procreation, although central to human life, is also the source of all our suffering. Despite his dark vision, Schopenhauer recognizes the importance we give to romantic love in our lives. He explains our attraction to certain partners as being linked to our unconscious, which evaluates their potential genetic qualities to ensure the health and vigor of the offspring.