Pessimismo e Gnose: Schopenhauer, Cioran e a apropriação das religiões anticósmicas

Abstract

This work seeks to show the appropriation made of anticosmic religions—religions that reject the world of becoming in toto, Gnostic and Dharmic religions—by two of the most notable philosophers of pessimism, Arthur Schopenhauer and Emil Cioran. In order for us to accomplish this task, we sought to inform the reader about what anticosmic religions are, first by bringing the most important historical example of anticosmic religion: the Gnostic religion that existed in the first few centuries of Christianity. Along with the Gnostic religion and its variants, we show the anticosmism present in Dharmic religions, namely Hinduism (or Brahmanism) and Buddhism. Afterwards, we sought to inform the reader about what philosophical pessimism is and what it is not. Having made these presentations, we then begun to analyze the philosophies of Schopenhauer and Cioran, pointing out their metaphysical and ethical positions, as well as how their pessimistic philosophies incorporate anticosmic religions to substantiate their rejection of becoming.