The Philosophy of Pessimism -- 20 Aug 09 -- Moordown

This report, compiled by Bill Jeffs, is about the talk/discussion on “The Philosophy of Pessimism” led by Garry Taylor .
Garry took Voltaie's novella “Candide”, a French satire written in 1759, as an example of the Optimism/Pessimism divide.

It was written as a satire of Leibnitz’s extreme optimism. In it Candide’s tutor Dr Pangloss (Leibnitz) is an unbridled optimist despite the continuous grave happenings in his life. Another character, Martin is an absolute pessimist (like Schopenhauer below). Voltaire saw himself more like the Candide character – a ‘realist’, not expecting life to be always a bed of roses.
Leibnitz (1646-1716) (the optimist Dr.Pangloss) believed that God has created the best of all possible worlds, (because of His goodness it could not be otherwise) - although all parts are not necessarily the best.

Garry took as a contrast the philosopher Schopenhauer (1788-1860) - an atheist and pessimist.
He said that life and the world is malevolent, cruel and unjust (Tennyson’s “Nature, red in tooth and claw”). Man is governed by his wants, desires, his ‘Will’. (Hume’s “Reason is slave to our feelings and passions”).
The only escape, Schopenhauer said, from life’s woe, suffering, misery and death (into Kant’s Noumenal world?) is briefly thro’ music and the arts – (Garry said ‘moments of spiritual joy’).
Or more long term, by ‘dropping out’ of society and living a life of hard work and chastity (suppressing the passions; which can bring only misery).
This philosophy is reflected at the end of the book when Martin (the absolute pessimist) says “Let us work without theorizing; ‘tis the only way to make life endurable”. Candide agrees, observing that “we must (just get on and) cultivate our garden”.

During class discussion, members generally agreed that being ‘realistic’ was probably the best compromise between pessimism and optimism.