In today’s society, being happy and having an optimistic attitude towards life are social expectations that weigh heavily on the way we live and the decisions we make.
Some psychologists have even pointed out how happiness has become an industry. In turn, this has created what I call a happiness imperative; that is, the social expectation that we should all aspire to happiness.
But this imperative can be an obstacle to true happiness. Therefore, as a researcher on philosophical pessimism, I believe that if we really want to live a better life, pessimism is the philosophical system that can help us achieve it.
Although pessimism in the psychological sense is characterized by a tendency to focus on bad results, philosophical pessimism has nothing to do with the results of this or that act. Rather, it is a system that purports to explain the origins, prevalence, and ubiquity of suffering.
For this reason it is possible to adopt a cheerful and positive attitude towards life and be, at the same time, a philosophical pessimist, because facing life in any way has no bearing on the realization that existence is generally full of suffering.
Is everything anguish?
French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre is often seen as a somber philosopher whose ideas emphasize existential angst and fear and explore generally dark and depressing themes. He, too, has been associated with pessimism, but this is largely due to misunderstandings.
In 1945 Sartre wanted to dispel these mistaken impressions. In a public lecture called Existentialism is a Humanism, he argued that existentialism, properly understood, is a philosophy of freedom that calls on us to take responsibility for our decisions and the lives we create. We are free or, in existentialist terms, we are condemned to be free.
Sartre believed that we do not have an essence and that, therefore, it is up to us to create, build and give ourselves one. While all of this can cause feelings of anguish and despair in some people, it doesn’t always have to be the case.
Compassion for living beings
And as in the case of existentialism, depression and anxiety are not necessarily defining aspects of philosophical pessimism either.
In philosophy, pessimism has a long history dating back to the ancient Greeks. A Greek myth tells us that the satyr Silenus revealed to King Midas that the best thing for any human being was never to be born and that the second best thing was a premature death.
But, although the Greeks already spoke of how tragic it is to exist, the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, from the 19th century, is considered the first Western writer who dealt with pessimism in a systematic way.
A key aspect of Schopenhauer’s philosophical pessimism is that it is motivated by compassion and concern for all. To be precise, this compassion extends to all living things, not just humans. This is one of the important differences with existentialism.
condemn existence
In Schopenhauer’s pessimism we find a clear condemnation of existence. As he put it, “work, trouble, weariness, and need are, of course, the lot of almost all men throughout their lives,” and “we can also conceive our life as a uselessly annoying episode within the blessed rest of the world.” of nothing”.
And in case he is not clear enough in his condemnation of existence, he also says “the world is precisely hell and men are, on the one hand, tormented souls, and on the other, demons.”
Consequently, for Schopenhauer, non-existence is preferable to existence. This means that when faced with the option of existing or not existing, not existing is the best option. In this he echoes Sileno, but, and this is important, once we are here, the best thing we can do is adopt an attitude of life that distances us from desires and needs. That is why it is convenient and advisable to stop chasing things, including happiness.
In no case would he or any other pessimistic philosopher advocate something like mad omnicide, taking steps to directly destroy all life, as some mistakenly believe. Ultimately, Schopenhauer’s pessimism rests on certain metaphysical principles about the nature of existence itself, the essence of which is what he called will.
For our purposes here, it is enough that we understand the will as a kind of force that underlies, conditions and motivates everything that exists. As such, all that is exists to be endlessly desired, and therefore never achieves lasting satisfaction.
the light side
As the world we live in forces us to deal with pandemics, economic problems, wars, and climate change, the expectation of living a happy life is overwhelming. It is unrealistic to think that we should always look at the positive side of events.
And even if we choose to do so, it remains true that, as the pessimism says, we exist to endlessly want and desire. Given this, the imperative of happiness clearly conflicts with the essence of existence (Schopenhauer’s will) because satisfaction is not possible. The expectation of being happy thus becomes a fight against the very nature of life.
So when society expects us to be happy, and blames us if we’re not, positivity becomes toxic. If we find ourselves unable to live up to the happiness imperative, we can feel inadequate and a failure.
Pessimism can offer philosophical tools to better understand our place in existence. It can help us accept the idea that refusing to relentlessly pursue happiness is perhaps the most reasonable course of action.
(The Conversation)
