The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1901-08-27
PES.S/MIGj

ior tne worst; opposed to optimism, and
lie aooed IN parentheses, rare" The
same dehnition Is repeated in the I'M
apriosed edition of 1884. emitting the
note rare, nor does the later edition
contain the word pessimism-
This word is derived from the Latin
malus. bad; pejor worse; pessimus.
worst; and it is defined in the Century
Dictionary as I'D The doctrine that this
world is the worst world possible ca
The tendency to exaggerate in thought
the evils of life, or to look only upon its
dark side; a melancholy or depressing
spirit or view of life"
The first definition Is absurd. Who can
know that this world is the worst world
possible?" Nor Is the second definition a
good one. Pessimism is simply the doc
trine that the sorrows of life exceed its
joys. The Century Dictionary cites a
passage in one of Southeys letters in
which ''pessimism" occurs. published in
1872.
The high priest of the pessimistic
philosophy is Arthur Schopenhauer, who
died in 1860 aged seventy-two years. His
first exposition of 1t was published in
1915. but the book attracted little notice
until after his death; nor did the author
obtain notoriety until the last decade of
his life. His renown has increased great
ly. while the metaphysical philosophy OF
Hegel, to which he was violently OPP
posed, has largely lost its hold, and APP
pears to be subsiding altogether
The pessimistic philosophy, though
now little more than a generation old as
distinctive system, is foreshadowed
from remote antiquity. Life in its
entirety" says the Roman savant Seneca
lis lamentable. No one would accept it
were it not received in ignorance of what
1t is. Natures most pleasing inven-
tton. says Pliny, a contemporary of
Seneca, lis brevity of life No mortal is
happy, for even if there is no other cause
for discomfort. there is at least fear of
possible misfortune.
But long before the time of these
Roman writer's we have the doctrine
recorded in the book of Ecclesiastes as
follows:
What profit hath of all his labor which
ne taketh under the sum- All ia vanity
and vexation Of spirit. That which is crooked
cannot be made straight and that which is
wanting cannot be numbered. In much
wisdom there is much grief and he that in
ereaseth knowledge inereaseth sorrow
As 1t happeneth to the fool so ii happeneth to
me. and why was | then more wise?
Therefore | hated life. For that which
befalleth the sons OF men beialIeth beasts;
the dieth. so dieth. the other.
All GO to place.
In modern times the doctrine is well ex-
pressed by Pope:
Man never is, but always to be best.
Also by the earlier poet Dryden:
When l consider life, it's all a cheat;
Yet. fooled with hope, men favor the deceit,
Trust on. and think tomorrow will repay;
Iomorrows falser than the present day
But more forcible statement Of it Is |
by Voltaire, to-wit:
Happiness is dream. and only pain is real |
have thought for eighty-feur years, and |
know no better plan than to resign myself to /
he inevitable and to reflect that flies are born
o be devoured by spiders and man to be con-
umed by care
a gain says Voltaire:
l do not know what the life eternal NAV be-
tut at all events this one is very poor Joke.
A novel by Voitaire was published in
l59 entitled "Candide, or the Optimist"
candide was a pupil of DR.. Pangloss, who
'ersistently upheld the doctrine that all
vas for the best. Candide went forth
nto the world. He met with constant |
Misfortune and often recalled the teach
nS of his master. At last he became
Nurse in hospital One of the patients
vas an old man who had suffered dread
ully and often. He was lying at the
'oint of death. All said Candide,
none but DIR. Pangloss, in case so des-
erate, can maintain the doctrine of OPP
imism: all others would preach pes
Don't pronounce that abominable
ford," cred the poor man; Il am the
'angloss you speak Of Wretch that L
m, let me die in peace. All is well, all is
or the best And he expired.
This novel, for cogent reasons, is not
dvertised in the works of Voltaire, but !
was published in London and New
amuel Johnson's '-Rasselas. Prince of
byssinia, another pessimistic novel, :
-hich first appeared in the same year
nat "Candde" was published. 1t is sin
hould each have published in the same
ear. 1853. a pessimistic novel More than I
hundred years elapsed before the word
essimsm half uttered by Voltaire came
Ito use in English literature. 1
Pessimists maintain that happiness
insists chiefly, if not entirely. in the abb
nee of pain, and therefore advise that I
scontent should be Danished as far as | /
)sSible into outer darkness. Schopen- L
iuer refused to admit that a being more
telligent than man could exist, either
ere or on any other planet; for, with t
ilarged intelligence. he would consider b
'e TO be too deplorable to be supported I
r a single moment We enter life fully | Q
.rsuaded that happiness exists and that 1
is easy to make our acquaintance with
but experience lets US know that
is will-o -the-wisp. which is b
Ny Yisible from afar, while. on the T
her hand, suffering and pain have C
,gative. pain is positive; happiness is
ansient. pain is constant
Every DESIRE says Schopenhaucr. g
s born of a need, of a privation. or a Il
ffering. When satisfied it is lulled, but L
r one that is satisfied how many are
Desire. moreover is of long
ration. its exigencies are infinite, while p
easure is brief and narrowly measured.
ven this pleasure is only an apparition, | "
iother succeeds it; the first is a van =
he'd illusion, the second is an illusion u
at fingers still. Nothing is capable of II
'peasing will, ror of permanently ar
|
Ives is like the aims tossed to a beg "
n. which. in preserving his life, pro- "
lSs his misery tomorrow. While, there
re, are dominated by desires and |
led by will, so long We give our | c,
Ives up to hopes that delude and fears -
at prosecute. We have neither repose d
+ happiness" ~
Pessimism seemingly takes and gives el
thing in return. But when more close Il
examined it transforms itself into |
nsolation, which, if relatively restrict
is none the less valuable. 1t shields /
from manifold receptions and by n
owing that each joy is an Illusion ! Of
ives pleasure where it found it, simply II
closing 1t in a black border, from which. ! h
greater relief. 1t shines more brightly n
an before. 1t emphasizes the POSSIBLE IL
of triumphing over misery through a | u
bjugation of the selfish propensities. In | f,
at way peace may he attained. or, at to
ist, the burden of life much diminished. al
optimism and pessimism cur w
tute philosopher. Lester F. Ward,
ampions meliorism, another word not
md in Webster's Unabridged. 1t is de- CT
ed from the Latin word melior. mean S,
, better Its first use may be traced to 20
novelist George Eliot. who called her -
f a meliorist Prof. Ward defines me- pc
rism "humanitarianism minus all .ii
ltiment." Happiness he defines as "a ul
ldition of continuous and constantly az
.urrng pleasures, of whatever class, ne
largely over pains" He III III,
'ther says: Al