ABSTRACT
In ‘Arguments for Common-sense Realism and Against the Common-sense Theory of Knowledge’ K. Popper observes that all forms of rational thought must build upon a common-sense foundation, not because he feels this is an especially secure foundation. Rationality is only to be understood as the means developed in the evolutionary process by which animals have been able to adapt and survive in a real, independently-existing and often hostile world. For Popper, the evolution of rationality in humans is intimately linked to the greater sophistication of human over other animal languages. The belief in the reality of objects can never be abandoned without giving up on the very possibility of rational action. The natural conclusion for Schopenhauer is to seek to subdue one’s rational, activity-orientated faculties in favour of sublime and passive contemplation. The belief in the reality of objects can never be abandoned without giving up on the very possibility of rational action.
