This book was unprecedented in the English-speaking world, as most reviews were critical of the pessimism of Hartmann and Schopenhauer, while Saltus presented his own ideas and, in the final chapter, offered a personal interpretation of what pessimism meant to him. Saltus's argument draws on some of the theses of both thinkers, and he contends that, while the question of the value of life must be decided by each individual, the eudaimonic balance will always demonstrate that life is affliction and that there is more suffering than happiness in the world.