Volume 7, Issue 5, page 3

Life's Pretty Forloril, as Some See It
Modern Philosophy's Main Dish Is Despair,
With Boredom, Anxiety, Dread Added for Zest
By ALFRED R. PULYAN
HERE is a story of a police officer
w h o tried to persuade a supersalesman to abandon an attempt at
suicide. After a little discussion,
they both jumped in the river. If I
hadi a discussion with Jean Paul
Sartre, the originator of Existentialism, there would be no doubt
about the outcome, I should finish
up in complete despair, thus joining
the third Earl Russell, Bertrand Russell,
who stated in his urbane way that he rests
securely "on a foundation of unyielding
despair". At least, I might...

It is characteristic of modern philosophy
that its main dish is despair, with little
items "on the side" like boredom, dread, and
anxiety, to give zest to the meal. Men have
reasoned about the mystery of existence until
all avenues have been explored and now are reduced to studying words themselves, what we
mean when we say something, what meaning itself means. We seem to have arrived at the
very end of one era and the beginning of something entirely new -- that is, if we are able to
keep our fingers off the rocket-button.

According to Sartre, we just "surge up in
the world