will to live
Desire for survival
The will to live is the fundamental drive to survive and continue existing.
In philosophy and psychology, it describes the instinct that pushes organisms to preserve their lives against threats.
The phrase often appears in medical contexts—patients who lose the will to live may decline faster than their conditions alone would predict.
Conversely, someone with a strong will to live fights through illness or hardship: Her will to live pulled her through the surgery.
- fight-or-flight responsePhysiological reaction to danger
- hopeDesire for good outcomes
- purposeReason something exists
- loveIntense fond attachment
- meaningWhat something signifies
determination · inner strength · friendship · existentialism · perseverance · grit · never give up · keep going · holding on · hunger · courage · human spirit · absurdism · belongingness · life force · self-efficacy · emotional regulation · thirst
- survival storiesescape story, wilderness survival, shipwreck tales, shipwreck, sea survival
- Schopenhauerpessimism, voluntarism, thing-in-itself, suffering, representation
- metaphysicsessence, being, reality, existence, substance theory
- pessimismpessimism, nihilism, fatalism, hopelessness, despair
will to livedeath wish
Urge toward self-destruction
suicidal ideation · suicidality · death instinct · morbidity
will to liveresignation
Voluntary relinquishment of position
surrender · giving up · hopelessness · despair · defeatism
will to livespiritual death
Eternal separation from God
broken spirit · emptiness · apathy · numbness · anhedonia
will, wills, willed, willing, willingly, unwilling, unwillingly, willingness, unwillingness