2 - Amnesia and nihilism

Summary

Judgements, moods and emotions

The question that each of us should be asking may be posed in a variety of ways: “How should I accommodate the pessimistic and misanthropic perspective?”, “How should I adjust, shape and conduct my life in the light of it?”, “How should this perspective inform my life?”, or “What tone or stamp to my life should it give?” Before we consider some answers to this question, it calls for some elaboration.

First, I want to emphasize again its first-person character. It is not the question of what would be the most beneficial way for “us” – human beings in general – to respond to the harsh assessment of the human condition. Perhaps it would be good for people, animals and the planet if we travelled by aeroplane much less, but that does not settle whether I should take fewer flights. My situation might, in certain ways, be special or relevantly different from that of others, and anyway I am certain that most people are not going to give up flying. That various scenarios might be desirable is neither here nor there, as far as my decisions are concerned, unless they are also realistic. A focus on the merits or otherwise of unrealistic scenarios is an evasion of the question of how I should accommodate to pessimism and misanthropy.

Second, why does the question matter? Why should I want or need to make this accommodation? After all, I agree with any number of judgements about humankind – how it evolved, for instance, or its technological progress – but I don't usually ask how these should inform or shape my life. Or, rather, I won't ask this unless the judgement is one that challenges some settled conviction of mine. Darwin's account of human evolution did challenge certain Christian beliefs and many Christians indeed felt a need to accommodate this new theory of our origins. Likewise, the dark visions of the human condition expressed by powerful, persuasive voices like the Buddha's or Schopenhauer's can come as a shock to people who encounter them for the first time. By puncturing people's confidence in sunnier estimates of our condition, these dark perspectives are disturbing and disquieting, and call for a response.