ABSTRACT
If the will for life were merely to display itself as a drive for self-maintenance, then this would only be an affirmation of the individual phenomenon, for the period of its natural duration. This can only occur, however, through a painful violence that the individual inflicts upon itself. At the same time, the fear of death, which despite all the troubles of life holds us firmly in it, is really illusory, but just as illusory is the drive that enticed us into it. But the human race exists simply and solely by means of the continuing exercise of this sort of activity. The affirmation of the will for life, which accordingly has its center in the act of generation, is inevitable in animals. Accordingly, in the light of distinct cognizance, the author decides for affirmation or denial of the will for life, although he can as a rule bring the latter to consciousness only in a mythical garb.
