Schopenhauer on Free Will: What He Thinks and Why - Explaining Schopenhauer's Philosophy

Outline

TL;DR
The short answer
Will versus free will
Character, motives, and necessity
What kind of freedom he does allow
Modern example: addiction and the feeling of “choosing”
How this connects to Will, representation, and ethics
Common confusion
How this changes how you live
FAQ
Read next
Recommended Reading

TL;DR

Schopenhauer denies free will in the strong sense: under the same inner and outer conditions, you could not have acted otherwise.
In his view, action follows character meeting a motive, with necessity.
Choice feels free because deliberation is an internal process and we do not see the full set of determining conditions.
He still treats ethics as serious because motives can be moral, especially compassion. See Compassion & Ethics.

The short answer

Schopenhauer’s view can be stated without metaphysics.

You can do what you want (if nothing prevents you).
You cannot freely choose what you want in the moment of wanting it.

So if you want coffee, you can usually go get coffee. But the wanting itself is not something you authored from nowhere. It arises from your temperament, habits, situation, and the incentives and pressures acting on you.

Schopenhauer’s target is not everyday accountability like “you made the call, you own the outcome.” His target is a deeper claim: that there is an uncaused inner chooser who could have picked differently under identical conditions.

Will versus free will

Schopenhauer uses Will in a special sense. It is not willpower or a conscious plan. It is the underlying drive of striving and wanting that shows up in living beings. See Will (plain English).

Free will, in the everyday sense, usually means this.

Definition. At the moment of action, the agent could have chosen otherwise even if everything inside and outside the agent were exactly the same.

Schopenhauer denies that kind of freedom. In his view, the action follows from who the person is and what motive is present.

Character, motives, and necessity

Schopenhauer’s model has three parts.

Character. Stable tendencies: what you reliably care about, how you react, what you fear, what you reach for.
Motive. The concrete situation that triggers desire, fear, pride, compassion, or avoidance.
Necessity. Given this character and this motive, the action follows.

Then why does choice feel free? Because we deliberate.

We imagine options.
We weigh reasons.
We experience uncertainty before we act.

Schopenhauer’s point is that deliberation is not evidence of metaphysical freedom. It is the process by which motives become clear and gain force. When the strongest motive becomes decisive for this character, the action is settled.

This connects to his broader insistence that, within experience, events have grounds. For the background on “grounds” and explanation, see Principle of Sufficient Reason.

What kind of freedom he does allow

Schopenhauer does not deny every sense of “freedom.” He denies freedom of action in the strongest metaphysical sense, but allows a different kind of claim.

Kind of freedom	What it means	Does he accept it?
Everyday freedom	“I can do what I want if nothing stops me.”	Yes, often.
Libertarian free will	“Under identical conditions, I could have chosen otherwise.”	No.
Deeper freedom	A claim about what you are at the level behind appearances, not a Tuesday-afternoon power of choosing.	He gestures toward it, but it is not the freedom most people want.

Practically, his view leaves room for change, but not by sheer “decision” alone. In his frame, change comes from altering the motive landscape, building habits, acquiring insight, and sometimes undergoing a deeper shift in how one’s life is directed.

Modern example: addiction and the feeling of “choosing”

Addiction is a case where the gap between intention and action becomes obvious.

Scenario. A person decides on Sunday night to stop drinking. They mean it. On Wednesday at 5:45 p.m., after a stressful day, they pass their usual store. The craving hits and feels urgent. The earlier resolution feels thin and distant. They buy alcohol and feel, afterward, that the outcome was almost predictable.

Schopenhauer would treat this as a clear display of his model.

The person deliberated, which makes the experience feel like choice.
But when a powerful motive arrives (relief, numbness, routine), it can dominate competing motives.
Given this character and this motive in this situation, the action follows.

The practical consequence is not “give up.” It is “change the conditions.” Remove triggers, change the route home, add accountability, build alternative rewards, reduce stressors, and make the competing motives stronger and more present. On Schopenhauer’s view, you do not manufacture a new self out of nothing. You work by changing what becomes strongest.

How this connects to Will, representation, and ethics

Schopenhauer’s position on free will makes most sense inside his larger picture.

Representation explains the world of reasons

In experience we live among reasons, choices, causes, and motives. That is the world as it appears, what Schopenhauer calls Representation.

Will explains the engine beneath reasons

He thinks the deeper story is not a neutral chooser, but a striving drive that shows up as desire and character. That is why “pure” free will is unlikely in his system. See Will (plain English).

Ethics remains serious because motives can be moral

If motives move us, the moral question becomes: which motives do we cultivate and reward? Schopenhauer thinks compassion is the genuinely moral motive because it breaks egoism most directly. See Compassion & Ethics.

If you want the main work that holds these ideas together, start with The World as Will and Representation (overview + how to approach it).

Common confusion

“If there is no free will, responsibility disappears.” Not automatically. Even if actions are determined, consequences, praise, blame, and incentives still shape future motives.
“Schopenhauer says people cannot change.” He treats character as stable, but behavior can change through new habits, new environments, and new motives.
“This is just modern scientific determinism.” There is overlap, but Schopenhauer’s argument is philosophical. He is analyzing what the experience of choosing does and does not prove.
“If choices are necessary, deliberation is pointless.” Deliberation is part of the causal process. Learning and reflection can change which motives become strongest later.
“Free will just means doing what you want.” Schopenhauer largely accepts that sense. His dispute is about choosing what you want in the first place.

How this changes how you live

You get more precise about change. Instead of relying on pure willpower, you redesign conditions: habits, triggers, incentives, support.
You take environment seriously. What you repeatedly see and do becomes part of your motive landscape. It is not neutral.
You separate accountability from melodrama. You can own outcomes and repair harm without treating yourself as a metaphysical monster.
You become less contemptuous. If other people are driven by forces they did not author, cruelty becomes harder to justify. Boundaries still matter, but humiliation becomes optional.

FAQ

1) Does Schopenhauer deny free will completely?

He denies it in the strong sense of “could have done otherwise under identical conditions.” He allows everyday freedom of action in many cases (“I can do what I want if nothing stops me”) and gestures toward a deeper kind of freedom that is not the ordinary power of choosing between options.

2) Why does free will feel real if Schopenhauer is right?

Because we deliberate and imagine alternatives, and we do not see the full web of character, habit, and motive that determines what becomes strongest. The process feels open until the action happens.

3) Where should I read Schopenhauer on free will first?

For the full framework, start with The World as Will and Representation (overview + how to approach it). If you are using the site as a guided path, begin with Start Here: Schopenhauer in 7 Days and follow Reading Order (Beginner → Advanced).

4) If I “can’t will what I will,” what is the point of self-control?

Self-control is not magic. It is the practice of changing what becomes strongest: reducing triggers, increasing friction for bad habits, strengthening competing motives, and building routines that make better actions easier.