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Dark Matters: Pessimism and the Problem of Suffering

Dark Matters: Pessimism and the Problem of Suffering

by Mara van der Lugt
Dark Matters: Pessimism and the Problem of Suffering
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Dark Matters: Pessimism and the Problem of Suffering

Dark Matters: Pessimism and the Problem of Suffering

by Mara van der Lugt

Overview

An intellectual history of the philosophers who grappled with the problem of evil, and the case for why pessimism still holds moral value for us today

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, philosophers engaged in heated debates on the question of how God could have allowed evil and suffering in a creation that is supposedly good. Dark Matters traces how the competing philosophical traditions of optimism and pessimism arose from early modern debates about the problem of evil, and makes a compelling case for the rediscovery of pessimism as a source for compassion, consolation, and perhaps even hope.

Bringing to life one of the most vibrant eras in the history of philosophy, Mara van der Lugt discusses legendary figures such as Leibniz, Hume, Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant, and Schopenhauer. She also introduces readers to less familiar names, such as Bayle, King, La Mettrie, and Maupertuis. Van der Lugt describes not only how the earliest optimists and pessimists were deeply concerned with finding an answer to the question of the value of existence that does justice to the reality of human suffering, but also how they were fundamentally divided over what such an answer should look like.

A breathtaking work of intellectual history by one of today's leading scholars, Dark Matters reveals how the crucial moral aim of pessimism is to find a way of speaking about suffering that offers consolation and does justice to the fragility of life.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691206622
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 09/21/2021
Pages: 472
Product dimensions: 6.50(w) x 7.50(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Mara van der Lugt is lecturer in philosophy at the University of St Andrews, where she specializes in early modern intellectual history and philosophy. She is the author of Bayle, Jurieu, and the "Dictionnaire Historique et Critique."

Table of Contents

Introduction: Philosophy in a Minor Chord 1

The Problem of Evil 3

Pessimism and Optimism 9

Maps and Methods 14

The Question 20

A Note of Caution 23

Chapter 1 The Complaint: Bayle and Malebranche on Physical Evil 28

Categories 30

Strategies 33

Malebranche's Monsters 36

Bayle's Balances 42

A Theodicean Turn? 58

Complaint and Consolation 62

Chapter 2 The Optics of Optimism: Leibniz and King Respond to Bayle 67

Definitions 68

The Challenge of Pessimism 71

Rising to the Challenge 73

The Thought Experiment 83

The Argument from Suicide 87

The Misery of the Damned 89

The Optics of Optimism 94

Pessimism 100

Chapter 3 Of Hope and Consolation: Voltaire and the Deists 103

Pope and Prior 112

Jenyns and Johnson 119

Voltaire's Volte-Face? 126

The Philosopher's Earthquake 131

Candide, or Optimism 138

The Complications of Hope 145

Chapter 4 When Stoicism Meets Pessimism: La Mettrie and Maupertuis 148

'But We Shall Be Anti-Stoics!': La Mettrie 152

Calculating Evils: Maupertuis 160

Optimistic Pessimism? 172

Pessimistic Optimism? 175

La Mettrie Strikes Back 179

Stoicism and Suicide 184

Chapter 5 The Dispositional Problem of Evil: David Hume 187

A Fragment on Evil 190

Dialogues concerning Natural Religion 193

'The Sceptic' 210

The Consolations of Philosophy 217

'Of Suicide' 222

Humean Pessimism 229

Chapter 6 The Art of Suffering: Jean-Jacques Rousseau 232

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality 235

The Letter to Voltaire 246

Emile 260

Rousseau versus the Pessimists 277

Chapter 7 The Failure of Theodicy: Immanuel Kant 284

'Heil uns, wir sind!': The Optimistic Kant 286

A Last Attempt at Theodicy? 290

The Essay on Theodicy 294

The Clear Eyes of Maria von Herbert 325

Chapter 8 The Flute-Playing Pessimist: Arthur Schopenhauer 334

The Case for Pessimism 339

Round One: 'The Dark Abodes of Misery' 341

Round Two: Theodicy Revisited 347

Round Three: Parerga and Paralipomena 355

The Reasons for Pessimism 361

The Problems of Pessimism 386

Chapter 9 Dark Matters: Pessimism as a Moral Source 395

Why the Dark Matters 398

Happiness and the New Suffering 401

The Point of Pessimism 406

Fragility 410

Hopeful Pessimism 414

Acknowledgements 417

Bibliography 419

Main Primary Sources 419

Other Primary Sources 424

Secondary and Modem Sources 428

Index 443

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Dark Matters is history of philosophy at its best—scholarly, argumentative, and lively. Van der Lugt traces the ways in which the problem of theodicy—of justifying the works of God in a world full of evil—was transformed across the eighteenth century into the choice between optimism and pessimism, understood not as psychological expectations of the future but as philosophical alternatives in the face of suffering.”—John Robertson, University of Cambridge

“This beautifully written and carefully argued book deploys a hermeneutics of sympathy for those philosophers who wonder whether life is worth living at all. The effects are a kind of alchemy: while one contemplates the most awful thoughts, van der Lugt’s expert and gentle guidance creates the joy that comes from knowing one is not wholly alone in the world.”—Eric Schliesser, University of Amsterdam

“A remarkable work. Dark Matters engages its reader in a very personal way with questions that are central to human experience. This beautifully written book vividly brings out the ways in which what philosophers call ‘the problem of evil’ is not merely an intellectual puzzle but also a challenge to beliefs about what makes life worth living.”—James A. Harris, University of St Andrews

“Welding a subtle analysis of philosophical pessimism to a brilliant genealogy of the early modern problem of evil, this book is a genuine tour de force: faced with the ‘ultimate questions,’ philosophy, as it turns out, still matters.”—Wiep van Bunge, author of From Bayle to the Batavian Revolution: Essays on Philosophy in the Eighteenth-Century Dutch Republic

"A major work in the history of ideas and an unusual pleasure to read. Dark Matters is a book with the power to make people think differently about their lives."—Ritchie Robertson, author of The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680–1790

"Dark Matters is an engaging and accessible study in intellectual history and philosophy. Van der Lugt convincingly argues that pessimism at its best leads us to a morality centered on compassion."—John P. Wright, author of Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature": An Introduction

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Related Subjects

Philosophy
Major Branches of Philosophical Study
Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Ethics & Moral Philosophy - Theoretical
Philosophy
Major Branches of Philosophical Study
Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Ethics & Moral Philosophy - Theoretical

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