he would “prefer to be ruled by a lion than one of his fellow rats”, essentially endorsing monarchy. But this begs the question, why is being ruled by a lion preferable over being ruled by rats?
I wouldn`t bother myself with the words of a man who considered himself to be a rat all that much. He was obviously a bit bonkers.
Schopenhauer was very non-political and was infamous for his attacks on Hegel’s warming up to the church/state duo. None of what I’ve read shows any coherent acceptance of government. Mostly he finds kings and all other systems to be terrible too. He sort of takes pride in ignoring politics – which is refreshing.
This is a great line, though, by Schopenhauer that kind of explains his ambivalence (democracy and monarchy are both contra to nature).
From Counsels and Maxims:
"What are States and all the elaborate systems of political
machinery, and the rule of force, whether in home or in foreign
affairs,--what are they but barriers against the boundless iniquity
of mankind? Does not all history show that whenever a king is firmly
planted on a throne, and his people reach some degree of prosperity,
he uses it to lead his army, like a band of robbers, against adjoining
countries? Are not almost all wars ultimately undertaken for purposes
of plunder? In the most remote antiquity, and to some extent also in
the Middle Ages, the conquered became slaves,--in other words, they
had to work for those who conquered them; and where is the difference
between that and paying war-taxes, which represent the product of our
previous work?
All war, says Voltaire, is a matter of robbery; and the Germans should
take that as a warning."
haha maybe he was literal when he said that he preferred to be ruled by a lion. In which case I would agree that being under the rule of a lion would be preferable to any system of government that man has tried.
I am a big fan of Schopenhauer, that’s why his quote caught my eye so much, for a man as bright as him i thought his politics was a little disappointing. Then again he was generally apolitical
From the Wiki article on him, he sounded like a minarchist-monarchist. He was the master of cynics though. He has some very funny quotes.
-Jon