SOURCE: “The Great Quietus,” in The Philosophy of Disenchantment, Belford Company, 1885, pp. 163-207.

In the following essay, Saltus examines the life events that shaped Hartmann's embracement of Pessimism, and examines the similarities and differences existing between the philosophies of Schopenhauer and Hartmann.

It is related of Schopenhauer that he was in the habit of putting down a gold piece on the table d'hôte where he dined, and of taking it up again when the dinner was ended. This gold piece, he explained to his Boswell, was for the waiter the first time that any one of the different officers, who frequented the dining-room, was heard discussing a loftier topic than that which is circled in wine, woman, and song. As the story runs, no occasion ever presented itself in which he could in this manner express his pleasure and contentment; but had he lived long enough to...