Pessimism controversy

Philosophical controversy in Germany
The controversy developed as a response to Arthur Schopenhauer's growing posthumous popularity in Germany

The pessimism controversy or pessimism dispute (German: Pessimismusstreit) is an intellectual controversy that occurred in Germany, starting in the 1860s and ending around the beginning of the First World War.[1][2] Philosophers who took part included Friedrich Nietzsche,[3] Eugen Dühring, Eduard von Hartmann, neo-Kantians, Agnes Taubert, Olga Plümacher and critics of Hartmann.[2]

The controversy first arose as a response to Arthur Schopenhauer's growing posthumous public recognition in the 1860s. This led to the publication of a wide array of criticisms, attacking his pessimism.[2] The publication of von Hartmann's Philosophy of the Unconscious, in 1869, which reaffirmed and further developed Schopenhauer's doctrine, reinvigorated the controversy. Hartmann published a great number of articles and four books in response to his critics, throughout the 1870s and 1880s. Agnes Taubert (Von Hartmann's wife) published Pessimism and Its Opponents, in 1873, in response to criticism of her husband, which had a strong influence on the controversy.[4] The German-American philosopher Amalie J. Hathaway has been described as an unrecognised contributor to the controversy.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Beiser, Frederick C. (2016). "The Pessimism Controversy, 1870–1890". Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860–1900. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198768715.001.0001. ISBN 9780198768715.
  2. ^ a b c Beiser, Frederick C. (2016). "The Pessimism Controversy". After Hegel: German Philosophy, 1840–1900. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. doi:10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.001.0001. ISBN 9780691173719.
  3. ^ Stern, Tom (2020), Wicks, Robert L. (ed.), "Nietzsche's Schopenhauer", The Oxford Handbook of Schopenhauer, Oxford University Press, pp. 478–496, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190660055.013.26, ISBN 978-0-19-066005-5, retrieved 2021-01-02
  4. ^ Stern, Tom (2019). "Nietzche's Ethics of Affirmation". In Stern, Tom (ed.). The New Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 352. ISBN 9781316676264.
  5. ^ Bensick, Carol (2018-04-12). "An Unknown American Contribution to the German Pessimism Controversy: Amalie J. Hathaway's 'Schopenhauer'". Blog of the APA. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
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Philosophical pessimism
PhilosophersConceptsWorks
Primary
  • The World as Will and Representation (Arthur Schopenhauer)
  • Small Moral Works (Giacomo Leopardi)
  • Das Tragische als Weltgesetz und der Humor als ästhetische Gestalt des Metaphysischen (Julius Bahnsen)
  • Philosophy of the Unconscious (Eduard von Hartmann)
  • Die Philosophie der Erlösung. (Philipp Mainländer)
  • The Last Messiah (Peter Wessel Zapffe)
  • A Short History of Decay (Emil Cioran)
  • The Human Predicament (David Benatar)
  • Discomfort and Moral Impediment (Julio Cabrera)
  • Works by philosophical pessimists
Secondary
  • Pessimism: A History and a Criticism (James Sully)
  • The Philosophy of Disenchantement (Edgar Saltus)
  • The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror (Thomas Ligotti)
  • Anti-Natalism: Rejectionist Philosophy from Buddhism to Benatar, (Ken Coates)
  • Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860–1900 (Frederick C. Beiser)
  • Depressive Realism: Interdisciplinary perspectives (Colin Feltham)
  • Dark Matters: Pessimism and the Problem of Suffering (Mara van der Lugt)
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