Wichita eagle., 1888-12-12
WHAT Is PESSIMISM?
THE PREVALENCE OF SCHOPEN-
HAUER'S DOCTRINES.
A German Buddhist - He Goes Beyond
Buddhism-aIakes Will the Only Force

a
Buddhism-aIakes Will the Only Force
in the Uorld-"This Is the Worst World
Possible"
Especial Correspondence
New York, Nov 27.-Scarcely any author
of modern times who has grown famous after
death has been so neglected during life or
made SO slight impression on his immediate
contemporaries as Arthur Schopenhauer.
A German Buddhist. he is accounted the
philosopher and apostle of pessimisn, which
seems today to have affected the minds OK
half the world-to be the blighting influence
OF the lastquarter of the Nineteenth century.
But when he published his great work, THE
World as VIII and Intelligence" less than
seventy years ago, it did not make ripple. At
the time of his death, Sept. 81, 1850, he had
hardly any recognition, even in Germany.
Towards the end of his life, however,
he began to attract notice, so that there
Is much truth in his words, Extreme
JUNCTION will be my baptism. Like the saints
Of the Roman Catholic church, l shall not be
canonized until after death" II is but little
more than a quarter Of a century since he
passed away, and his doctrines, which had
then hardly been heard Of beyond his own
country, seem to have taken possession of the
whole thinking world This philosophy,
though modelled on Buddhism, is modernized
and essentially different Both teach the
utter worthlessness Of life and the blessing Of
humiliation, represented in the Asiatic re-
ligion by Nirvana, the opposite of Tansara,
which is mundane existence, the funda-
mental evil
Schopenhauer, born at Danzig, Prussia,
Feb o. 17sS, studied at Gottingen and Ber-
lin, ard, in his university essay on the
"Quedruple Root of Sufficient Reason, fore
shadoYed the principles of his future creed.
He published various writings beside the
chief production named; but none Of them
gained for many years any number of read
ers or exercised any perceptible influence.
Obstinately opposed to Fichte, Schelling and
Hegel, he parted also from Kant, whom he
regarded as the true instructor Of the Ger
man mind aud found in will the thing
in itself" ding in sich), which Kant had de-
clared to be beyond human knowledge. viii,
wholly subjective, he maintained was the
substance of the world The entire world is
in its essence but will, regarded in its Sc
ries OF manifestations, and lifting itself
by degrees from inorganic matter to
human reason. Gravitation, electricity,
heat the rising of sap in plants,
life in animals, every form OF activity, from
the fall of an apple to the foundation of a
state, are simply the expression of a certain
will and nothing else. Spirit is not, as so
many philosophers have contended, the prin-
ciple of whatever exists Spirit is secondary
and derived power, an accident, phenoms-
non. Will insureS the constancy of the laws
of nature, and is eternal. Moral perfection
consists. as he thinks, in resignation, sacri
fee, progressive indifference to all the feel
ings that bind us to the invisible world.
Hence it depends essentially and completely
on pessimism.
These are the main points Of the scheme of
Schopenhauer, whose theories and practice
were singularly at variance He held that,
while suicide might be commendable, it was
insufficient; we should extinguish the desire to
live; that this is not only the worst world
that has existed, but the worst possible world
that could exist; that to love nothing, hate
nothing, fear nothing is half the sum of all
attainable wisdom, with many similar senti-
ments, all consistent with his opinions. One
might think that a man having such convic-
tons would at least be resigned to death,
come when it might But Schopenhauer was
beared at Frankfort, he quilted the city with
precipitation; he was mortally afraid of
catching some contagious disease; he wouldn't
allow a barber to Shave him, lest his throat
should be cut; he saw danger everywhere;
was as incapable of courage as q hare. Per-
sonalIy he had not particle Of philosophy
He called the greatest minds of his time
tricksters ard idiots, and behaved very much
oil o., 10 ho OF
The rarest of philosophers, one of the pro-
soundest of intellects.
Nothing in his circumstances explained his
intensely disagreeable disposition or bis
GLOOMY views of the world His father had
left him q fortune; be enjoyed good health,
living TO be almost 20; he was without re-
sponsibilities, as he was q confirmed bachelor.
His books did not sell, but he felt confident
that they would be widely read postum
mously and render him celebrated. The cause
of his supreme dissatisfaction, and perhaps
of his peculiar philosophy, was his tempera-
meut, which makes or mars the content Of
most of us, independent of our conditions.
He was particularly nervous, morbidly
sensitive and destitute of the very qualities
he demanded for his kind. Altogether he
was strangely eccentric. Nevertheless he
was SO in harmony with the latent spirit OF
his age, particularly of the present genera
zion. that be anticipated, formulated and
widely expressed it. Genius alone can SO di-
vino the undeveloped ideas of an era, by q
kind of clairvoyance, rs to weave them
into a system rs Schopenhauer has done in
his World as VIII and Intelligence" and
his "Will in Nature" To say that he is q
German Buddhist is not to intimate that he
has merely repeated the Wonderfully abstruse,
elusive, enigmatic doctrines of that theology.
He has, in sense, reproduced them by in
sisting on the anxiety, sorrows and Affections
of life, and on tho hunger of humanity for
rest, unattainnble except through the e1tinc-
ton of identity and self consciousness. But
he has. beside, introduced, and clearly worked
oct, philosophy of his own, specially ap-
plicahle to the cravings ond disquietudes of
the Nineteenth century. Buddhism by ages
autedates Christianity, which, in many re-
spectS, bears a striking resemblance to is.
and pessimism has not yet reached its seventh
decade, but threatens to be the prevailing
creed OF the intellectual world.
At the first glance, pessimism seams ter
ribly forbidding: it is the bltterest satire on
life and nature; it is revolutionary; it de-
stroys all the old ideas that have governed
civilization for 1900 years. Most men find
their thought in their wishes What can
they find that they wish in pessimism-the
belief that every thing is for the worstl But
that they do find much in it is indicated by
the fact that it has hosts OF disciples, continu-
ally increasing. 1t is the reaction from opti-
rnisn and authority, which have so long held
sway. 1t is the assertion of reason. and, in q
way, the result of science. The present ten
dency is to accept nothing that cannot be
proved or made to appear probable.