Pessimism

by Dienstag, Joshua Foa

• ISBN13: 9780691125527
• ISBN10: 069112552X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-17
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Pessimism claims an impressive following--from Rousseau, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, to Freud, Camus, and Foucault. Yet "pessimist" remains a term of abuse--an accusation of a bad attitude--or the diagnosis of an unhappy psychological state. Pessimism is thought of as an exclusively negative stance that inevitably leads to resignation or despair. Even when pessimism looks like utter truth, we are told that it makes the worst of a bad situation. Bad for the individual, worse for the species--who would actually counsel pessimism? Joshua Foa Dienstag does. InPessimism, he challenges the received wisdom about pessimism, arguing that there is an unrecognized yet coherent and vibrant pessimistic philosophical tradition. More than that, he argues that pessimistic thought may provide a critically needed alternative to the increasingly untenable progressivist ideas that have dominated thinking about politics throughout the modern period. Laying out powerful grounds for pessimism's claim that progress is not an enduring feature of human history, Dienstag argues that political theory must begin from this predicament. He persuasively shows that pessimism has been--and can again be--an energizing and even liberating philosophy, an ethic of radical possibility and not just a criticism of faith. The goal--of both the pessimistic spirit and of this fascinating account of pessimism--is not to depress us, but to edify us about our condition and to fortify us for life in a disordered and disenchanted universe.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xv
ABBREVIATIONS	xvii
PART I
CHAPTER ONE The Anatomy of Pessimism	3	(46)
PART II
CHAPTER TWO "A Philosophy That Is Grievous but True": Cultural Pessimism in Rousseau and Leopardi	49	(35)
CHAPTER THREE "The Evils of the World Honestly Admitted": Metaphysical Pessimism in Schopenhauer and Freud	84	(34)
CHAPTER FOUR "Consciousness Is a Disease": Existential Pessimism in Camus, Unamuno, and Cioran	118	(43)
PART III
CHAPTER FIVE Nietzsche's Dionysian Pessimism	161	(40)
CHAPTER SIX Cervantes as Educator: Don Quixote and the Practice of Pessimism	201	(25)
CHAPTER SEVEN Aphorisms and Pessimisms	226	(18)
CHAPTER EIGHT Pessimism and Freedom (The Pessimist Speaks)	244	(21)
AFTERWORD	265	(8)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	273	(10)
INDEX	283