In this paper, I will address the resonances, hitherto largely neglected, between the
philosophies of Heidegger and Schopenhauer. Despite some groundbreaking work
by Julian Young as well as Dale Jacquette (244-9), little Anglophone scholarship
has been devoted to this topic. I will continue the task of exploring the “affinities”
(Young 162) between these two philosophers by examining their views on how
reality manifests itself to human intelligibility. In the first section, I summarize
some of Heidegger’s later views on the conceptual inexhaustibility of “being as
such” and the role that art plays in revealing it. Then, I sketch Schopenhauer’s
epistemology to show how he likewise argues that there is a dimension of human
experience that cannot be fully articulated in concepts. Finally, I show how both
philosophers draw similar conclusions concerning the epistemological status of
“feelings,” the pitfalls of using words without grasping the experiences that anchor
their sense, and the role of argumentation in philosophical discourse.
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