Schopenhauer's pessimism

Abstract

Schopenhauer has acquired, not unreasonably, the fame of being a pessimist thinker. To him, in opposition to Lebniz, this world is the worst of all the possible worlds. “Were it worse -he says-it could not keep existing”. This article exposes, through an analysis of his work together with a fictitious talk with the German thinker, the foundations of that pessimism and its philosophical implications.