True Detective very much helped to popularize the view of pessimism as tenable philosophical ground to the national television-viewing audience. The story of Rust Cohle is one of bleak reality almost too real to bear. Thomas Ligotti, likewise, broadcast his own philosophical pessimism to horror-savvy readers with his book “The Conspiracy Against The Human Race”. In this episode I discuss both popular accounts of pessimism and my own experience and investigations into the abyss. It’s impossible to mention the philosophy of Ligotti without mentioning his predecessor, H.P. Lovecraft, and his incomprehensible creations like Cthulhu. Perhaps the reality of existence truly is too much. Then again, the philosophy of Buddhism accepts much the same premises as philosophical pessimism, but comes to radically different conclusions. Maybe the answer is to strive in the face of suffering per Dr. Jordan Peterson and Dr. Viktor Frankl. As always, I leave the answers up to you to figure out. Let me know what you come up with.

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Learn more about the topics discussed:

True Detective's Rust Cohle and the philosophy of pessimism: https://youtu.be/9oX2xFo7JA4

David Benatar and Jordan Peterson debate: https://youtu.be/vsyZcKUP_-k

Man's Search for Meaning by Dr. Victor Frankl: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning

The Dhammapada: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html

The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cc.aspx

Thomas Ligotti: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/128466.Thomas_Ligotti

Background music thanks to Anchor.