Abstract

We propose to investigate Schopenhauer’s hypothesis of transcendent fatalism, namely, his conjecture that there seems to be a secret force that guides us better than ourselves, as he explains in Transcendent Speculation on the Apparent Deliberateness in the Fate of the Individual (1851). In this investigation, we will highlight his interpretation that this invisible force, called by the ancients Destiny (ειμαρμεχη), Demon (δαιμόν), or Providence (προνοια), symbolizes nothing other than our own nature or unconscious Will. Finally, we will also seek to contextualize that this interpretation of Schopenhauer, according to Marcel Zentner and Stephen Atzert, gives reason for Freud to cite that essay, in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, in connection with the psychoanalytic thesis of the unconscious choice of fate (unbewußten Schicksalswahl).