Most Depressing philosophy?

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I am curious, as an individual who used to be extremely depressed and stressed out, about the different types of philosophies that are out there for people who are severely depressed. I know that existentialism can be a very nasty and horrid philosophy depending on which way you take it, but it ultimately has a very neutral stance when it comes to the nature of life. I have heard of Schopenhauer and his rather melancholy philosophy, but I would like some input from the WP philosophy department if at all possible.

I recommend Immanuel Kant;

'Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination.'
Immanuel Kant

But is that depressing? Seems not to me.

From what I have heard, Logical Positivism should be a candidate.

But I may be misreading the question -

Cheeseroyale34 [and theeby I doubt not hangs a tale - are you looking for a philosophy expressing depression or a philosophy to dissipate depresson?

I choose Absurdism.

It's like the punk rock of philosophy; depressing and crude, but funny and cathartic at best.

I'm not sure whether this is more of a theology, philosophical theology, or philosophy (probably the middle option), but I'd have to say Calvinism. In existentialism the reality and power of autonomy and free will is empthasized, whereas Calvinism asserts absolute predetermination - you cannot *really* alter course on whether you're going to hell or heaven and all of life consists of parnaoically deciding between which camp you fall in. Not that I really believe in Free Will, but I do think it's the most potent positive illusion ever developed.

I've heard that some people find it liberating, but in my view, there is no contest: to me, the most depressing philosophy is nihilism. The stance that nothing-- not life, nor morality-- has any intrinsic value poses what I see as a real problem (particularly, I think, for secularists like myself). Rationally, I believe nihilism is a perfectly defensible position to argue, if one views life purely from a detached, clinical Western scientific perspective (what Alan Watts called the "fully automatic model"), as sort of a random accident of an indifferent Universe, onto which we futilely try to project our own interpretations and ascribe our own ideas. However, I don't see that it offers very much in the ability to sustain an emotionally satisfying existence. Existential nihilism is a denial of the validity of life in and of itself, and I don't believe that sort of denial is healthy. It may be true that whatever value we find in the world around us is the product of a human construct, something we just made up-- but I don't think that is necessarily entirely a bad thing. I don't mean to say that I think it always has to be organized religion, but I do believe that every human being requires some sort of "pillar(s)" in their life for support-- otherwise, faced with a chaotic reality that confounds purely objective experience, what reason does anyone really have to abstain from committing suicide?

I think it depends on your own viewpoints. If your are convinced that there is something like an objective truth, a theory that denies that can be depressing to you. Some people get depressed from Nietzsche(although that might just be because they don't understand him..). At university(I'm a philosophy student) most of my classmates would probably say (radical) solipsism. The idea that the external world and other minds might not/don't exist can seem quite depressing. But again, I think it depends on what you believe.....

Add to that eliminative materialism, which rejects the existence of the subject 'I'.

most depressing philosophy: god so loved his children that he put a landmine in their playground.

Actually, I think eliminative materialism actually comes as something of a relief to someone with a nihilistic mindset. Certainly when I was extremely depressed and realised clearly how pointless everything was, coming to the conclusion that 'I' didn't exist anyway (as anything more than transient thoughts and feelings) was useful as it implied that the lack of meaning to my life wasn't important.

Although intellectually I still believe these things to be the truth (that nothing has intrinsic value and I don't exist anyway), I think it is impossible to really feel them unless in a state of profound depression - as depression lifts things appear to become important again and it is very difficult for a mentally healthy individual to lose that sense of importance, because it is so essential to life. Although important things essentially have only relative importance, to oneself or to the human race in general, relative importance is enough to base morality upon and enough to enjoy life even if one is well aware that this importance is just an illusion.

Ironically, despite my nihilistic mindset, I am now one of the happiest people I know - partly because I have stopped striving for anything in particular (other than keeping my life as it is), stopped caring about anyone or anything too much, and enjoy transient moments in the knowledge that I may well feel depressed again in the future but that doesn't matter - that will be another self and I have no real reason to keep myself alive and suffering if things get really bad. I don't think that it is possible to get this way by choice however and I wouldn't really recommend it (people have said they envy me my lack of concern about my long-term future - I doubt they would envy me if they knew how I had got there), even though I do feel that my experiences have shown me the truth about the (lack of) meaning of life.

Actually I think extreme solipsism is a far more depressing prospect - it is effectively nihilistic anyway (what is the point of an existence that is all self created anyway and noone to share it with), with the added horror of potentially existing for eternity, together with whatever pain you create for yourself. This must be what it would be like to be God.

Last edited by merrymadscientist on 10 Dec 2010, 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Exactly. Not being able to find purpose or meaning in life is exactly what it means to have your world shatter. It's why people soul search when they get traumatized.

Philosophy of the Depressed topic

Schopenhaur comes to mind. I also find Karl Marx to be somewhat gloomy.

This might not be depressing but, its likely the most ironic. Buddhists believe that they have to live many, many lives in order to earn their right to not exist - to atheists it only takes one. Strangely Buddhists also have a sense of inner peace, possibly out of glumness, that surpasses most other organized systems of belief.

Trident lovers, chew on that.

Schopenhauer. The man held that it was the worst of all possible worlds, how can you get worse? Even modern individuals who are so pessimistic sometimes have a connection to Schopenhauer.

Postmodernism.

Right on. Nihilism devours your soul.