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Author: Ignacio L. Moya, PhD Candidate, Philosophy, Western University
In today's society, happy and optimistic Attitudes are social expectations that greatly influence the way we live and the choices we make.
Some psychologists point to how happiness has evolved into an industry. This gave rise to what I call the duty of happiness, the social expectation that we should all aspire to happiness.
But this It can be an obstacle to happiness. This is why, as a researcher of philosophical pessimism, I argue that if we really want to live a better life, pessimism is a philosophical system that helps us achieve it.
Pessimism in the psychological sense tends to focus on bad outcomes, whereas philosophical pessimism is fundamentally not about outcomes. Rather, it is a system that aims to explain the origin, prevalence, and ubiquity of suffering. does not make me a psychological pessimist), I can still be a philosophical pessimist.
All about anxiety.
French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre is considered a brooding philosopher dealing with existential anxieties, fears, and generally dark and depressing topics. You may. He has also been associated with pessimism, largely due to his misunderstanding of his research.
In 1945 Sartre wanted to dispel these false impressions. In a public lecture entitled Existentialism is Humanism, he said that properly understood existentialism is a philosophy about freedom and taking responsibility for our choices and the lives we create. We are free—or, in existentialist terms, we are condemned to be free. I believed it had no substance. So all of this can certainly cause feelings of anxiety and despair in some people, but it doesn't have to be.
Compassion
And as in existentialism, despair and anxiety do not necessarily define aspects of philosophical pessimism.
Pessimism has a long history in philosophy, dating back to the ancient Greeks. An early myth tells us that the satyr Silenus revealed to King Midas that the greatest thing a human being could wish for was not to be born, and the next best thing was an early death.
However, 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer is considered by philosophers to be the first modern Western writer to systematically address pessimism in his work. It is
Schopenhauer's philosophical pessimism is motivated by compassion and concern for all human beings. This is one of the key differences he has with existentialism.
Existential condemnation
Schopenhauer's pessimism contains a clear existential condemnation. As he puts it, "Work, worry, toil, and suffering are, in fact, what nearly every human being experiences throughout their lives," and that "our lives are needlessly disturbed in the blissful silence of nothingness."
And if he wasn't clear enough about condemning existence, he also said, "The world is simply hell, and humans On the other hand, it is a tortured soul, and on the other hand, it is a demon.”
Consequently, for Schopenhauer nonexistence is preferable to existence. This means that given the choice of being present or not being present, not being present is the best choice. In this he echoes Silenus, which is important, but when we are here, the best we can do is adopt a life attitude that keeps us away from our desires and desires. It is in our interest to stop pursuing things that include happiness.
It is not about destroying life
In any case, he and other pessimist philosophers We never advocate anything like annihilation - a step to actively and directly destroy all life, as some mistakenly believe.
Ultimately, Schopenhauer's pessimism rests entirely on his metaphysical views of the nature of existence itself. Its essence is what he called will.
For our purposes it is sufficient to understand will as a kind of force that underlies, conditions and motivates all that exists. Thus, everything that exists exists for endless desire, without lasting satisfaction.
The bright side
Considering the world we live in is forced to deal with pandemics, economic problems, wars and climate change. And what we are supposed to do may seem overwhelming. to be happy. It is unrealistic to think that we must always look on the bright side of events.
And even if we choose to do so, according to pessimism, we exist to want and desire endlessly. In light of this, the imperative of happiness clashes with the essence of being (the will of Schopenhauer), because satisfaction is impossible. Therefore, expecting to be happy becomes a battle against the nature of life.
This is why positivity becomes toxic when society expects us to be happy and blames us if we are not. When you feel unfulfilled, you feel inadequate and love to fail.
Pessimism can provide philosophical tools to better understand our place in existence.
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Ignacio L. Moya, I do not work for, consult with, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organization that benefits from this article. their academic appointments.
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