Personal sources of Cioran’s skepticism and pessimism

Abstract

The article concentrates on the philosophical analysis of concepts of insomnia and boredom and on their connection with skepticism and pessimism of the Romanian thinker Emil Cioran. According to the author of The Temptation to Exist, insomnia deprives us of salutary breaks and hence forces to a constant and exhausting consciousness of mind and body. By taking away the possibility to regenerate the vital strength and the naïve sense of time and by arousing the consciousness in an extreme manner, insomnia makes the man unable to act and drives him into the feeling of agony, sadness and despair. Similarly boredom, which is a state of monotonous repose, drops us into an existential loneliness, void and emptiness and forces us to reflect upon the subject of the malevolent truths about life. Through suspending time, boredom deprives moments of content and meaning, drives a man into unimportance and absence, while the world into nothingness and non-substantialism. The common feature of states of insomnia and boredom is an extremely heightened consciousness leading to skepticism, which, according to Cioran’s thoughts, does not solely refer to the world but primarily to a man. It develops due to tragedies connected with transience and an inability to fulfill desires, which comes from our imperfections and limitations. A sceptic, who once falls into a trap of doubt, changes into a prisoner with a sober look. He becomes separated from the issues he analyses, acknowledges the inquiry as accidental and perceives terms and values as a game of conventions, in which everything becomes equal and reduced to the level of fiction. Understanding skepticism in this way, leads Cioran to ontological and historical pessimism, which deprives mankind, the world and the future of all values through acknowledging that everything is arbitrary, unnecessary and without a reason to exist.