In its prejudice against scientific materialism philosophy was right. Materialism has done much more to shake the position of the optimistic world-view than Schopenhauer has, although it never proceeded against it with outspoken hostility. When, after the collapse of the great systems, [pg 014] it was allowed to seat itself at table with philosophy, which had now become more modest, it even exerted itself to find out in what sort of tone the latter would like the conversation to be carried on. In dealing with Darwin and others, philosophizing natural science made touchingly naïve attempts so to extend and stretch out the history of zoological development which led up to man, that mankind and with it the spiritual should appear again as the goal of the world-process, as in the speculative systems. But in spite of these well-meant efforts of the proletarian guest the conversation could no longer be carried on in the old spirit. Of what use was it for him to try to be better than his reputation? He brought with him more respect for nature and facts than was consistent with the convincing establishment of the optimistic world-view. He therefore shook it, even when he did not intend to. To such a disregard of nature and science as was shown by the earlier philosophy we can never return. Nor can we expect the return of a system of thought which makes it possible to discover in any convincing way in the universe the aims and objects of mankind, as was allowed by the old methods. The optimistic world-view ceases, therefore, to be self-evident to us, or to be demonstrable by the arts of philosophy. It must give up the idea of finding for itself a solid foundation. Optimism and Pessimism Confusion is caused by the fact that the optimistic and pessimistic world-views seldom come forward in their purity in the history of human thought. Their relations are usually such that the one is predominant, while the other treats with it without being officially recognized. In India a tolerated world- and life-affirmation maintains for pessimism something of interest in the external civilization which it nominally denies. With us pessimism slips in and gnaws at the civilizing energies of the optimistic view, the result being that belief in the spiritual progress of [pg 015] mankind has left us. From it, too, comes the fact that we everywhere conduct the business of life with lowered ideals. Pessimism is a lowered will-to-live, and is to be found wherever man and society are no longer under the pressure of all those ideals of progress which must be thought out by a will-to-live that is consistent with itself, but have sunk to the level of letting actuality be, over wide stretches of life, nothing but actuality.