Pessimism and politics: conservatism and social criticism based on Schopenhauer

• Main Author: Flamarion Caldeira Ramos
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM) 2018-12-01
• Series: Voluntas
• Subjects: Pessimismo; Política; Conservadorismo; História; Solidariedade
• Online Access: https://periodicos.ufsm.br/voluntas/article/view/36052

The relationship between politics and pessimism, or more precisely, between the possibility of social and political change on the one hand, and the metaphysical rejection of that possibility on the other, has been striking in the reception of Schopenhauer's philosophy since the nineteenth century. On the one hand, a wide range of authors will mobilize pessimistic arguments that either coincide or are inspired by Schopenhauer to defend an immobilist and conservative perspective of politics and, on the other hand, several authors will use arguments present in the philosophy of Schopenhauer as a denunciation of the conditions of injustice in modern capitalist societies. For this reason, it is possible to emphasize both a "Schopenhauerian right" and a "Schopenhauerian left". In the present article, I will try to present a general picture of the reception of Schopenhauer's philosophy as far as the ideology is concerned. It is based on an analysis of the link between his pessimism and his political philosophy and leads to the various uses of pessimism made to justify the most diverse positions.