Attempts to assign reasons for the pessimistic conception of life—Views of E. von Hartmann—Analysis of Kowalevsky’s work on the Psychology of Pessimism
In view of the facts I brought together in my last chapter, there is occasion to inquire if it be possible to discover the intimate mechanism by which men arrive at a conception of life as an evil to be got rid of as quickly as possible. Why do so many think that man is less happy than the beasts, and that cultured and intelligent men are more unhappy than those who are ignorant or feeble-minded ?
I have related how in a society of friends of suicide, injustice and unfaithfulness were regarded as prime factors in arousing a distaste for life. Shakspeare made Hamlet exclaim that if it were possible to put an end to our days no one would continue to live:—
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely?
For Byron, besides diseases, death and slavery, the evils that we see, there are others:—
And worse, the woes we see not—which throb through
The immedicable soul, with heart-aches ever new.
In many of his works he insists on the feeling of satiety which was almost continually upon him. Every sensation of pleasure that came to him was rapidly succeeded by a still stronger feeling of disgust.
Heine thought that existence was evil and saw