Existentialism grew up beside an older and darker tradition: philosophical pessimism, the view that existence is, on balance, bad, or at least that suffering outweighs happiness. To understand how existentialists answered despair, it helps to meet the pessimists on their own terms, at full strength.

Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) set out his system in The World as Will and Representation (1818, expanded 1844). Behind the world we perceive lies will: a blind, endless striving with no goal, which shows itself in every living thing's hunger and desire. Because desire is a kind of lack, wanting is painful; when we get what we want, satisfaction is brief, and we sink into boredom. Life therefore swings, in his image, like a pendulum between pain and boredom.

Schopenhauer offered partial relief. In aesthetic contemplation, especially of music, we briefly forget our own willing. Through compassion, which he made the basis of morality, we recognize the same suffering in others. And the saint or ascetic, following paths he admired in Hindu and Buddhist thought, can quiet the will altogether. Schopenhauer was little read until late in life, but he deeply influenced the young Nietzsche, who later turned against his pessimism.

Cioran

Emil Cioran (1911-1995) was born in Romania and settled in Paris in 1937, where he later wrote in French. His books, mostly short aphoristic fragments, include On the Heights of Despair (1934) and The Trouble with Being Born (1973). As a young man he was drawn to the far-right Iron Guard in 1930s Romania, a period he later repudiated with shame.

Cioran carried pessimism further, with wit and bitterness. In paraphrase, he held that the real catastrophe is not death but birth: to be born is already to be handed suffering, time and decay. He distrusted every system, utopia and creed, which he saw as fanaticism in disguise. Lucidity, for him, meant seeing through all consolations. Yet he lived to old age, remarking that the mere thought of being able to leave made staying bearable. Some readers find a strange companionship in him: his honesty about despair can feel less lonely than cheerful advice.

In this course Cioran serves as a philosophical foil: a voice whose case for despair is strong enough that any humane and hopeful philosophy has to answer it rather than ignore it.

How existentialists answer despair

• Kierkegaard agreed that despair is nearly universal, but saw it as a sickness whose cure is faith.
• Nietzsche treated Schopenhauer's verdict as a symptom of declining life and answered it with affirmation: amor fati and the eternal recurrence.
• Camus accepted that the world gives no answers but rejected both suicide and hope. Revolt means living more fully, not less.
• Sartre and de Beauvoir held that meaning is not found but made, through freely chosen projects shared with others. Sartre insisted that existentialism is a philosophy of action, not of quietism or despair.

An honest disagreement

The disagreement is real and should not be papered over. The pessimist says the existentialist's courage is a noble distraction from the facts. The existentialist replies that the pessimist mistakes a mood for a verdict, and that lucidity about suffering does not by itself settle what we should do next. Both sides agree on one thing: honest thinking begins by facing suffering and death, not by looking away from them.

Worked example: a letter from a friend in despair

Elena writes to an old friend after losing her job: “What is the point? Every day is the same. Even if things improve, we all die anyway.” How might the thinkers in this level reply?

Schopenhauer would not pretend she is wrong about suffering. He might suggest concrete relief: music that lets her forget herself for an hour, and compassion, since recognizing others' pain can ease the isolation of one's own.

A Cioran-like voice would refuse cheerful clichés. He might write back with dark humor, agreeing that existence is strange and hard. Oddly, such honesty can comfort; Elena may feel less alone than if told to “stay positive.” But as a foil, this voice also shows its limit: it offers companionship in despair, not a way through it.

Camus would say the absurd is real but not the end of the story. Lucidity and revolt can coexist with friendship, sunlight and work worth doing.

Nietzsche would ask what in her life she could still affirm, and invite her to build from there.

De Beauvoir would point Elena toward projects with others, such as volunteering, organizing or caring for someone, since meaning grows from freedom shared.

A wise friend would also say one more thing. Philosophy can accompany despair, but persistent hopelessness deserves practical help too: talking with a doctor, counselor or trusted person. Taking pessimism seriously as an argument is compatible with taking care of oneself and others.