【正文】 s doctrine of the Will. The Unconscious which bines Will and Reason is, however, primarily Will. The workings of this Will are irrational primarily, but, as in its evolution it bees more rationalized and understands the whole meaning of the Weltschmerz, it ultimately reaches the point at which the desire for existence is gone. This choice of final nothingness differs from that of Schopenhauer in being collective and not individual. The pessimism of Schopenhauer and Hartmann does not, however, exclude a certain ultimate mysticism, which bears some analogy to that of Buddhism. Pessimism is naturally connected with materialist, optimism with idealist, views of life. The theories of the modern evolutionist school, however, have introduced into materialistic theory a new optimistic note in doctrines such as that of the survival of the fittest. Such doctrines regard the progress of humanity as on the whole tending to the greater perfection, and are markedly optimistic in contrast with earlier theories that progressive differentiation is synonymous with progressive decay. Similarl。 this Will is irrational, purposeless and therefore unhappy. The world being a picture of the Will is therefore similarly unhappy. Desire is a state of unhappiness, and the satisfaction of desire is therefore merely the removal of pain. Von Hartmann\39。 yet this enjoyment is on the whole negative, the avoidance of pain. A similar view is that of the ancient sceptics. Oriental pessimism, at least as understood by Europeans, is best exemplified in Buddhism, which finds in human life sorrow and pain. But all pain and sorrow are incidental to the human being in his individual capacity. He who will cast aside the Bonds, the Intoxications, the Hindrances, and tread the Noble Eightfold Path (see BUDDHISM) which leads to Nirvana, will attain the ideal, the Fruit of Arahatship, which is described in terms of glowing praise in the Pall hymns. This, the original doctrine of the Buddha, though not adopted in the full sense by all his followers, is in fact at least as optimistic as any optimism of the West. To call it pessimism is merely to apply to it a characteristically Western principle according to which happiness is impossible without personality. The true Buddhist on the contrary looks forward with enthusiasm to this absorption into eternal bliss. In Europe on the whole the socalled pessimistic attitude was moner in the Teutonic north than in the Mediterranean basin. But even here the hopefulness as regards a future life, in which the inequalities of the present would be rectified, pensated for the gloomy fatalism with which the present was regarded. The advent of Christianity, with its categorical assertion of future happiness for the good to a large extent did away with pessimism in the true sense. In Leibniz we find a philosophic or religious optimism, which saw in the universe the perfect work of a God who from all possibilities selected the best. Kant, though pessimistic as regards the actual man, is optimistic regarding his moral capacity. To Hegel similarly the world, though evil at any moment, progresses by conflict and suffering towards the good.Passing over the Italian Leopardi we may notice two leading modern pessimists, Schopenhauer and von Hartmann. Schopenhauer emphasizes the pessimistic side of Hegel\39。 a teleological view of the universe implies optimism on the whole。 realism etc.Pessimism Pessimism (from Lat. pessimus, worst), a word of modern coinage, denoting an attitude of hopelessness towards life, a vague general opinion that pain and evil predominate in human affairs. It is the antithesis of optimism, which denotes the view that on the whole there is a balance of good and pleasure, or at least that in the long run, good will triumph. Between optimism and pessimism is the theory of meliorism, according to which the world on the whole makes progress in goodness. The average man is pessimist or optimist not on theoretical grounds, but owing to the circumstances of his life, his material prosperity, his bodily health, his general temperament. Perhaps the most characteristic example of unsystematic pessimism is the language of Ecclesiastes, who concludes that all is vanity. Pessimism and optimism have, however, been expressed in systematic philosophical forms, a brief summary only of which need here be given. Such systems have been elaborated chiefly by modern thinkers, but the germs of the ideas are found widelyspread in the older Oriental philosophies and in preChristian European thought. Generally speaking, pessimism may be found in all pantheistic and materialistic systems. It is important, however, to point out an essential distinction. The thinker who sees man confronted by the infinite nonmoral forces presumed by natural pantheism inevitably predominating over the finite powers of men may appear to the modern Christian theologian or to the evolutionist as a hopeless pessimist, and yet may himself have concluded that, though the future holds out no prospect save that of annihilation, man may yet by prudence and care enjoy a considerable measure of happiness. Pessimism, therefore, depends upon the individual point of view, and the term is frequently used merely in a condemnatory sense by hostile critics. The attitude of a man who denies the doctrine of immortality and rejoices in the denial is not strictly pessimistic. A Christian again may be pessimistic about the present。social\39。 it insisted on accurate documentation, sociological insight, an accumulation of the details of material fact, an avoidance of poetic diction, idealization, exaggeration, melodrama, etc.。liberty\39。sincerity\39。a loosely used term meaning truth to the observed facts of life (especially when they are gloomy)\39。 it insisted on accurate documentation, sociological insight, an accumulation of the details of material fact, an avoidance of poetic diction, idealization, exaggeration, melodrama, etc