The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer

The Essays of Arthur
Schopenhauer; Studies in
by
Arthur Schopenhauer,
Translated by T. Bailey Saunders

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Studies in
Pessimism, by Arthur Schopenhauer, Translated by T. Bailey Saunders
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Title: The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism
Author: Arthur Schopenhauer
Release Date: January 17, 2004 [eBook #10732]
Language: English
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THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER: STUDIES IN
PESSIMISM
TRANSLATED BY
T. BAILEY SAUNDERS, M.A.

CONTENTS.
ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD ON THE VANITY OF
EXISTENCE ON SUICIDE IMMORTALITY: A DIALOGUE
PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON EDUCATION OF
WOMEN ON NOISE A FEW PARABLES

NOTE.
The Essays here presented form a further selection from
Schopenhauer's Parerga, brought together under a title which is not to
be found in the original, and does not claim to apply to every chapter in
the volume. The first essay is, in the main, a rendering of the
philosopher's remarks under the heading of Nachträge zur Lehre vom
Leiden der Welt, together with certain parts of another section entitled
Nachträge zur Lehre von der Bejahung und Verneinung des Willens
zum Leben. Such omissions as I have made are directed chiefly by the
desire to avoid repeating arguments already familiar to readers of the
other volumes in this series. The Dialogue on Immortality sums up
views expressed at length in the philosopher's chief work, and treated
again in the Parerga. The Psychological Observations in this and the
previous volume practically exhaust the chapter of the original which
bears this title.

The essay on Women must not be taken in jest. It expresses
Schopenhauer's serious convictions; and, as a penetrating observer of
the faults of humanity, he may be allowed a hearing on a question
which is just now receiving a good deal of attention among us.
T.B.S.

ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD.
Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence
must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon the enormous
amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and originates in
needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as serving no purpose
at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate misfortune, as it
comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional; but misfortune in
general is the rule.
I know of no greater absurdity than that propounded by most systems
of philosophy in declaring evil to be negative in its character. Evil is
just what is positive; it makes its own existence felt. Leibnitz is
particularly concerned to defend this absurdity; and he seeks to
strengthen his position by using a palpable and paltry sophism.[1] It is
the good which is negative; in other words, happiness and satisfaction
always imply some desire fulfilled, some state of pain brought to an
end.
[Footnote 1: Translator's Note, cf. Thèod, §153.--Leibnitz argued that
evil is a negative quality--i.e., the absence of good; and that its active
and seemingly positive character is an incidental and not an essential
part of its nature. Cold, he said, is only the absence of the power of heat,
and the active power of expansion in freezing water is an incidental and
not an essential part of the nature of cold. The fact is, that the power of
expansion in freezing water is really an increase of repulsion amongst
its molecules; and Schopenhauer is quite right in calling the whole
argument a sophism.]

This explains the fact that we generally find pleasure to be not nearly so
pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful.
The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or, at
any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader wishes
to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare the
respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating
the other.
The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will be the
thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than yourself;
and this is a form of consolation open to every one. But what an awful
fate this means for mankind as a whole!
We are like lambs in a field, disporting themselves under the eye of the
butcher, who chooses out first one and then another for his prey. So it is
that