Suffering and Pessimism in Schopenhauer: Pessimism as Social Critique

Abstract

This article investigates how the centrality of suffering in Schopenhauer’s philosophy serves to support his pessimism. Three arguments are analysed: the place of suffering in the world, its place in human consciousness and its place in front of happiness. After having considered these three arguments and seeing the inextricable link between suffering and the essence of the world, the determination of suffering in the consciousness, both in its genesis and in its intensity, and its ontological priority over happiness, it is underlined that pessimism is a required category. Finally, a possible contribution of the Schopenhauerian pessimism to the contemporary social criticism, considering the world view that late capitalism fosters, is noted.