"My philosophy is the first which has come to place the essence of man, not in consciousness, but in the will, which is not necessarily linked with consciousness."Schopenhauer was a man of inherited wealth but his life was filled with constant disappointment and quarrels. His major work "The World as Will and Idea" was not well received. His brief lectureship at Berlin University was a failure, largely due to his disdain for Hegel, whom he accused of bombastic sophistry and of corrupting the minds of an entire generation. His dislike of absolute government was sincere and he left his birthplace, Danzig, when it fell to Prussia, the state Hegel so admired. His mother's literary salon introduced him to a number of people important in the development of his thinking, including Goethe and Ernst Mayer, who introduced him to Indian philosophy. But after a bitter quarrel, he left Weimar never to see his mother again. He was sued for injuries sustained by a seamstress whose chatter had irritated him. It wasn't until nine years before his death that his ideas gained recognition. He later attained almost cult status, and was an inspiration to both Wagner and Nietzsche, but he died embittered by lack of recognition.("The World as Will" and "Representation", Vol.2, section 18.)
This is reflected in his pessimistic world view which sees Nature as driven by Will, with each part driven to survive at the expense of others. Human nature too is governed by will not reason, only in humans the will is accompanied by the intellect. The interaction between will and reason means that knowledge can affect the efficient functioning of the will and also that the operation of the will impairs our ability to know the truth. But knowledge and reason are instruments of the will, often forced to provide the wrong or illusory motives for decisions of the will; and this always after the event/action.
Schopenhauer's picture of the world not a comforting one - For him the "real" was not, as for Hegel, the rational but the irrational. The Will is "an unconscious, blind and irresistable impulse". (vol3, section55) The common-sense belief in free will is an illusion. Human beings may kid themselves into thinking they are acting on the basis of reason alone but this is never in fact the case. The intellect merely assists the will to achieve its ends. The only lasting solution to the miseries of existence comes when people become so aware of the inevitable wretchedness of life, of the misery of existing as futile manifestations of the cosmic Will to Live, they lose all wish for existence and gratification. Only aesthetic experience through art, or the denial of the Will to Live such as practised by ascetics, can provide escape from the misery of existence. Schopenhauer placed importance on the Romantic notion of the artist as one who can withdraw from the material exigencies of life and reveal aspects of the world to which those dominated by considerations of practical interest are blind. The knowledge so achieved is superior to any that could be acquired in response to the demands of the will. Only the artist and the saint can withdraw from the demands of will.
The general pessimism and elitism of this view fosters acceptance and resignation. Participation in the world is to be avoided. All social activity is senseless; there is no point in trying to change society.