風呂キャンセル界隈は、人類の希望。 #195

Kant's "Phenomenon and Thing-in-Itself" — The World Has Two Layers

Kant argued that the world divides into phenomena (appearances) and the thing-in-itself (das Ding an sich). Color is the go-to example: at the atomic level, objects have no color — color is what the brain constructs when reflected light reaches our eyes. A blue shirt looks blue because it reflects blue wavelengths and absorbs the rest. The "real world" (thing-in-itself) contains no color; color only emerges through human perception. Different animals perceive different wavelengths — insects can see ultraviolet light. The same logic applies to touch, smell, and every other sense: we only ever deal with phenomena, and the thing-in-itself remains, in principle, unknowable.

Time and space are likewise products of subjective experience. A fly has its own distinct sense of time (its Umwelt), which shows that time is not an objective feature of the world but something each subject carries. Space too — the conviction that "there is a wall there" rests entirely on the sensation of touch, which is itself a subjective phenomenon, as illustrated by the analogy of a VR headset.

Schopenhauer's "Representation" — Even More Illusory Than Kant's Phenomenon

Schopenhauer's magnum opus, *The World as Will and Representation*, takes over Kant's model wholesale. He renames the parts: "phenomenon" becomes "representation" (Vorstellung), and "thing-in-itself" becomes "will" (Wille).

"Representation" carries a stronger flavor of deception than "phenomenon" — it implies a veil that conceals the true nature of things. *The Da Vinci Code* is offered as an analogy: *The Last Supper* appears as a beautiful painting of Christ (the representation), but hidden inside it is a code planted by the Priory of Sion (the essence). Representation is that kind of camouflage. Time and space belong to the side of representation and do not exist in the thing-in-itself — this is the core of German Idealism.

The Essence of the World Is "One Will" — a Purposeless, Churning Force

The "will" Schopenhauer describes is not individual. Notebooks, trees, stones, humans, animals — all are different expressions of the same single will. Even the crowds crossing Shibuya Scramble Crossing, each heading somewhere different, are manifestations of that one will.

Crucially, the will has no purpose. The philosopher Hume argued that causality is something the subject projects onto events — it exists in the subject, not in the objective world. Since purpose presupposes causality, and causality is absent from the objective, the will is purposeless.

What, then, does the will do? It shows up in each being as a drive to live — the will-to-live (Lebenswille). We go to work ultimately because we want to survive. Every human action, traced to its root, is an expression of "I want to live." Against a philosophical mainstream that credited reason as the engine of the world, this was a radical claim: a more primordial impulse lies beneath reason.

Negating the Will — The Path Out of Suffering

Because every being desires to live, the world is full of conflict, war, and inequality — this, Schopenhauer says, is the root of suffering. The idea is heavily influenced by Buddhism and its goal of liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

The solution is the negation of the will: stop clinging to yourself as an individual and feel for others as you feel for yourself. Schopenhauer calls this Mitleid — "suffering together," or compassion — and holds it to be the only ethical stance. Since self and other are ultimately expressions of the same will, pursuing only one's own gain is simply wrong.

On suicide, Schopenhauer is pointed: he calls it a foolish act. "The person who commits suicide wills life; he is simply dissatisfied with the conditions under which he finds it. He cannot stop willing, so he stops living." Suicide is not a negation of the will — it is the will's emphatic affirmation.

Why the Furo Cancel Community Is Humanity's Hope

The furo cancel (風呂キャンセル界隈) trend refers to people who decide to skip the bath — "It's late, I have tomorrow off, I'll just wash my face and go to bed." Ask why you take a bath in the first place, and a chain of logic emerges: going without is unpleasant → being unpleasant makes communication difficult → poor communication costs you your job → losing your job means you cannot survive. Skipping the bath breaks that chain before it begins — which is to say, it severs the chain of the will-to-live. The host notes, with a laugh, that the furo cancel community is unconsciously enacting the philosophical conclusion of Schopenhauer: the negation of the will. That is why they are humanity's hope.