The Philosophy of Despair — Themes and Context

Pessimism as Physical Symptom

Jordan’s central argument is physiological: 'cheerfulness is not primarily a result of right thinking, but rather the expression of sound nerves and normal vegetative processes.' He insists that 'most of the philosophy of despair … vanishes with active out-of-door life and the consequent flow of good health.' To illustrate, he cites James Thomson's 'The City of the Dreadful Night' not as a valid worldview but as 'the effect of brandy on the sensitive mind of an exquisitive poet.' The poem's lines about 'the pitiless hours like years and ages creep' and 'this Time which crawleth like a monstrous snake' are presented as symptoms of 'self-inflicted insomnia' and 'subjective nerve influences.' Jordan even claims that 'a dose of quinine may convert to hopefulness when both sermons and arguments fail.' This reduction of philosophical despair to liver complaints or nerve decay is the book's most distinctive move.

The Rubáiyát as a Test Case

Jordan’s treatment of Omar Khayyám is instructive. He quotes the quatrains without rebuttal, letting their fatalism stand: 'There was the door to which I found no key; / There was the veil through which I could not see.' Yet his own framework implies that such sentiments arise from 'depression or irritation or failure of the nerves.' He distinguishes a 'philosophical Pessimism' above physical conditions, but quickly adds that 'the melancholy Jacques of our ordinary experience either uses some narcotic or stimulant to excess, or else has trouble with his liver or kidneys.' The reader must decide whether Jordan grants Khayyám the status of genuine philosophy or dismisses him as a case study. The text itself does not resolve this tension; Jordan moves on without directly engaging the quatrains’ arguments.

Action Over Whining

Jordan’s positive prescription is brief but emphatic: 'To act and to love are the twin functions of the human body and soul. To refuse these functions is to make one's self incapable of them.' He frames life as 'a part of action, not of whining' and 'a part of love, not cynicism.' The phrase 'worth living' he dismisses as meaningless—'no one who leads a worthy life has ever for a moment doubted this.' This is less a refutation of pessimism than a refusal to engage its premises. The reader is left to weigh whether Jordan’s brisk dismissal does justice to the poetic despair he has quoted. The book’s structure—opening with Khayyám, then diagnosing Thomson, then asserting health—suggests a rhetorical arc from temptation to diagnosis to cure.

The Limits of Jordan’s Argument

Jordan acknowledges a 'philosophical Pessimism … not dependent on' physical conditions, but he never names Schopenhauer or develops this strand. Instead, he returns to the body: 'Pessimism arises from depression or irritation or failure of the nerves. It is a symptom of lowered vitality expressed in terms of the mind.' The excerpts break off before he can address whether a healthy person could still rationally conclude that life is not worth living. The reader must note that Jordan’s evidence is entirely literary—Khayyám and Thomson—and his method is diagnostic, not dialectical. He treats despair as a disease to be cured by quinine and outdoor life, not as a philosophy to be answered on its own terms. This makes the book a period piece in the history of optimism, but one that raises questions it does not fully answer.

Jordan’s essay is best read as a physiological counterpoint to the pessimist tradition, not a comprehensive refutation. The reader should note how he uses poetry as both text and symptom, and consider whether his own cheerful dedication and opening poem undercut or reinforce his argument. The book’s brevity—under 10,000 words—makes it a quick but provocative read, especially for those interested in the intersection of literature, philosophy, and nineteenth-century medical thinking.

There are evenings when the worn spine of Jordan's Philosophy of Despair recalls a fragile, older neighbour—A Discourse of Life and Death, by Mornay; and Antonius by Garnier — Key Ideas to Explore—both whispering that our heaviness is bodily, a trembling in the nerves, not a flaw of the soul. Their kinship is quiet, yet unmistakable.