It’s funny how philosophers get this soft reputation.
You picture them sitting in armchairs, sipping tea, speaking in grand, poetic terms about the mysteries of existence.
But Schopenhauer? He didn’t sit in any cushy armchairs.
When he wrote about Napoleon, it wasn’t all praise like Hegel.
It was more like a reality slap as you would expect from him.
Napoleon was, according to Schopenhauer, a raw force of nature.
A storm. An unrelenting machine.
And Schopenhauer? He didn’t care much for storms.
I’m not here to give you some easy history lesson. If you’re looking for a sanitized view of Napoleon, you’ve come to the wrong place.
But if you’re interested in something a bit darker, a bit more philosophical, then let’s dive in.
1. Napoleon as the Ultimate Will
Let’s get one thing straight: Schopenhauer believed that life’s driving force was will.
Not the will to get a new car or a fancy watch, but the primal, underlying drive that pushes everything into motion.
Napoleon? He wasn’t just a man.
He was will in human form.
Schopenhauer didn’t see him as a hero. He saw him as a force—a force that didn’t care about right or wrong, good or bad.
Napoleon was so consumed by his own will that nothing, no moral argument or obstacle, could stop him.
He bulldozed through history, a living testament to the power of sheer desire.
And in the end, Schopenhauer saw him as a tragic figure, because that kind of will only leads to destruction.
2. Napoleon: A Man Without a Moral Compass
You know those people who walk into a room and the energy shifts?
Napoleon had that kind of presence.
But Schopenhauer wasn’t impressed by power for power’s sake.
To him, Napoleon had no moral code. He wasn’t interested in asking “Is this right?”
He just acted. What Schopenhauer saw was a man so driven by his own will that he ignored any moral considerations.
Napoleon wasn’t a saint, and he wasn’t a tyrant in the traditional sense.
He was something darker—a man who pursued his own agenda without any regard for ethics or consequence.
3. Napoleon as a Tragic Hero
Schopenhauer didn’t see Napoleon as a simple villain.
No, he saw him as a tragic hero.
Tragedy, to Schopenhauer, was when you try to force your will on the world and end up in a deeper mess than when you started.
Napoleon’s tragic flaw? His inability to understand what he was really fighting for.
The more he achieved, the more he craved.
The more he pushed, the more he sank into despair.
And like any great tragedy, the end was inevitable. But that’s what makes a figure like Napoleon so captivating—the deeper the rise, the harder the fall.
4. The Absurdity of Glory
Napoleon was obsessed with glory.
And Schopenhauer? He didn’t buy it.
Glory is just a social construct, a way of pretending that our lives matter more than they really do.
Schopenhauer didn’t care about glory because, at the end of the day, what does it matter?
Napoleon could win every battle, but he was still going to die, just like everyone else.
And what was his glory worth then? Schopenhauer saw glory as a distraction, a false idea that people cling to in an attempt to find meaning in a world that’s ultimately indifferent to them.
5. Napoleon’s Influence on Europe: A Dark Reflection
Napoleon wasn’t just one man—he was a reflection of Europe’s soul at the time.
Europe was consumed with the desire for power, for conquest, for dominance.
Napoleon didn’t just lead France; he was the embodiment of Europe’s drive to expand, to control, to subdue.
Schopenhauer saw Napoleon as a mirror to the continent—a place where nations fought for pieces of a world that didn’t belong to any of them.
Napoleon’s wars were not just political—they were a reflection of a deeper, more disturbing truth about the nature of mankind.
The more we chase power, the more we end up destroying ourselves.
6. Napoleon’s Retreat from Russia: A Symbol of Defeat
Let’s talk about Napoleon’s retreat from Russia. To Schopenhauer, this wasn’t just a military failure—it was something deeper.
It was life itself pushing back.
Napoleon thought he could control everything—bend nature and history to his will—but he was reminded that there are forces bigger than any man.
The retreat from Russia wasn’t just a battle lost. It was the universe saying, “You’re not in control.”
Schopenhauer loved that irony. Napoleon, the man who had conquered so much, was humbled by nature’s indifference.
7. Napoleon’s Fall: A Deep Lesson in the Meaning of Life
Schopenhauer didn’t just view Napoleon’s fall as political.
To him, it was a deeper existential lesson.
Napoleon spent his life chasing something—power, glory, control.
But in the end, none of it mattered. The more he grasped at those things, the emptier he became.
Napoleon’s downfall wasn’t just the result of his enemies—it was the result of his own unrelenting desires.
Schopenhauer believed that when you live without understanding the true meaning of life, you only build your own destruction.
Napoleon was a man who lived for an illusion, and in the end, that illusion destroyed him.
Table Summary:
| Point | Schopenhauer’s View |
|---|---|
| Napoleon as the Ultimate Will | The embodiment of will; a relentless, unstoppable force that defines human nature. |
| A Man Without a Moral Compass | No moral consideration; a man driven purely by will, not ethics. |
| Tragic Hero | A figure of tragic irony; his achievements only deepened his existential emptiness. |
| The Absurdity of Glory | Glory is meaningless; a mere illusion that distracts from the emptiness of existence. |
| Influence on Europe | A reflection of Europe’s own greed and destructive nature during his time. |
| Retreat from Russia | A humiliating defeat; a cosmic reminder that even the greatest wills can be crushed. |
| The Fall: A Deep Life Lesson | His fall reveals the emptiness of chasing power and glory without understanding life. |
So, that’s Schopenhauer’s take on Napoleon.
A raw, unflinching look at a man who thought he could conquer the world, only to discover that the world would always conquer him in the end.
We all have our Napoleonic dreams—our ambitions, our thirst for recognition.
But in the end, those desires have a way of consuming us. Napoleon was one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known, yet his fall was as inevitable as the rising sun.
It wasn’t just his enemies who defeated him—it was his own insatiable will.
And that’s the real lesson: chase something hard enough, and it will slip through your fingers when you least expect it.
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