Frederick C. Beiser

Moreover, in the natural sciences, the ignoramibus, I did not say that right, but that is okay, controversy, we're gonna blow past the Latin there and we're just gonna keep going, which began in 1872, raised questions concerning the limits of scientific knowledge.

In 1872, the prominent physiologist Emile Dubois-Ramon claimed that there were, as Frederick Beiser summarizes, quote, two insurmountable limits to all scientific knowledge, matter and mind.

For Dubois, the origin of matter and mind were ultimate limits, mysteries that were transcendent.

He actually expands on this claim in a speech in 1880, where he identifies seven world riddles, three of which he thinks are solvable, and three of which he thinks are not, and one of which he puts up as a question, just in case if you think there's freedom of the will, that is an insoluble riddle.

But it was with him that pessimism really became its own philosophy, and that really all of the pessimists after him couldn't have existed in the way that they did without his work already being done.

To convey how significant Schopenhauer was, I wanna share a passage from the book Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900 by Frederick Beiser.

In his book, I think he really captures the significance that Schopenhauer played in the development of pessimistic thought.

So he writes this: Sometimes the greatest contribution of a philosopher lies less in theory, argument, or idea than in the simple statement of a problem.