Humor as redemption in the pessimistic philosophy of Julius Bahnsen

Frederick Beiser

pp. 105-114

in: Lydia Moland (ed), All too human, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstract

Is humor an antidote for pessimism? One philosopher who saw humor as the only redemption in a world filled with suffering and sorrow was Julius Bahnsen (1830–81), one of the most radical pessimists of the German pessimistic tradition (1860–1900). After a brief account of the life of Bahnsen, I sketch his tragic philosophy of life, according to which life is filled with inevitable and irresolvable contradictions. The only respite from the suffering created by these contradictions, he taught, came with humor. Against his contemporary Nietzsche, Bahnsen held that art could not serve as a source of redemption from the tragedy of life. True art revealed suffering and did not try to conceal it; and true redemption came only after utter honesty, recognizing the horrors of life while still laughing at them.

Cited authors

Nietzsche Friedrich

Bahnsen Julius