Page:Riddles of the Sphinx (1891).djvu/16

1. page

2. to correspond with facts. The course of explanation

   leads away from reality. § 19. Hence the case for knowledge is hopeless. § 20. But yet our assumptions work. This plea only shifts the ground of the argument, and by denying (§ 21) that knowledge ultimately

   works in practice, Scepticism passes into Pessimism.
    

3. Chapter IV.

   Pessimism ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   95

4. §§ 1-2. Pessimism essentially the theory of the inherent

   perversity of things, rendering all the aims of life illusory. § 3. Not based on hedonism; the belief that life is misery the consequence, not the cause of Pessimism.

   § 4-19. The Ideal of Happiness. § 4. As happiness is complete adaptation to environment, it is impossible in a world of change. § 5. So there is no adaptation to the physical environment—all must die. Nor (§ 6) to the social—births, marriages and deaths. Nor (§ 7) is harmony attainable in the soul—inherited discords and incompatible claims. Life for the individual a fruitless struggle, with a certain prospect of defeat. § 8-10. The prospects of the race no better, either physically, § 8; socially, § 9; or psychologically, § 10. Owing to the rapidity of the changes in the conditions of life, our feelings are survivals from obsolete modes of life, and conflict with our reason. Our bodies still less harmonized with our duties. § 11-17. The evidence for Pejorism, the growth of misery. § 12. Evidence that the physical organism does not adapt itself quickly enough to changed conditions. Increased sensitiveness to pain, and diminished power of recuperation. Death itself evolved. § 13. Material progress renders spiritual misery possible, and (§ 14) provokes social discontent. § 15. The social environment has grown too fast, and so (§ 16) has the discord in the soul, most obviously (§ 17) in the case of the sexual feelings, which have retained an excessive strength from animal times, although the smaller waste of life renders it needless. They are fostered by society, but their wholesome gratification becomes more and more difficult. Consequent growth of immorality and misery. § 18. The evolutionist argument for Meliorism: adaptation must prevail, for the unadapted die,—§ 19, unless the nature of things is