Anne suggested that we talk about something new, as the prior topic has been kicked around enough, now looking like an old shoe (or is it old dog)? She suggested answering the question: Am I an optimist or pessimist?
On the web, we find: "Pessimism, generally, describes a belief that things are bad, and tend to become worse; or that looks to the eventual triumph of evil over good; it contrasts with optimism, the contrary belief in the goodness and betterment of things generally. Philosophical pessimism describes a tendency to believe that the life has a negative value, or that this world is as bad as it could possibly be. In particular, it most famously describes the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer."
An optimist, on the other hand, can be described with fewer words as "a person disposed to take a favorable view of things."
My guess would be that one's position would be tied, not only to what one observes in the world, but to whether or not one sees opportunities ahead, to wit: approximately 1700 years ago a Roman philosopher wrote:
I am a goddess seldom found and known to few. I am ever flying. I am bald behind that none may catch me [by the hair] as I flee. Remorse bears me company. When I have flown away, she is retained by those who did not grasp me as I passed.
The “goddess” was Opportunity (From Cato Unbound, May 1, 2006).
The door is now opent to this topic....Let's start with what MAKES a person an optimist or a pessimist. we can assume that genes are involved, but what prior experiences, etc. might play a role.
5 comments:
To some extent, it is difficult to be optimistic when you work in a profession where you are reminded, on a daily or even hourly basis, of the depravity of our own species. That is the field of public health, with its focus on problems, more than solutions.
I am optimistic because I choose to be. In the wide range of choices we have on how "to be". I prefer joy over sorrow, serenity over chaos, etc. In that vein I also prefer illusion over despair. I just don't go there. I will further say, I think we select the careers we do so we can live the life we are destined to. Fate and temperament be tightly linked. I am an artist and in a way create my own world. I have realist dealing with the outside world to an extent but generally they are on my terms. I fight for the rights of those things that cannot speak,ie wild nature. This gives me peace over anger. I am able to be skeptical without being a cynic. I don't think everyone can do this. I just have the right combo of genes, upbringing, and astrological sign. LOL
That is interesting -- you are optimistic because you choose to be. I am not an optimist because I am confronted daily by data on chaos, murder, mayhem, rape, pillage, disease--four horsemen.
I think we need to look at the definition of optimist: does it mean ignore reality? It probably does.
While I am not an optimist, I am not a pessimist nor am I a cynic most of the time.
I think that I am a realist, but realize that we see through a mirror darkly, with everything tempered by what we can see (because it is in front of us), what we want to see, what we can see because of our history, genes....
To say we select our careers may be a slight overstatement, some of us had to get a job that paid enough to support children.
Probably the truth of the matter is that out of innocence or whatever, few of us end up having a real choice about what we do. We marry when we are young and are probably incapable of making a reasonable or long-term choice. We have children and then our lives belong to them.
I am not sure that you made all the choices that led you to the place you are now in. Do you think so?
Also, to what extent does having a "real" choice means we use others to get it or avoided things to get it, or ignored things to get it? Do you think it is true that for every choice we make, there is probably a person (such as child) whose needs we ignore, whose well-being we neglect, or a person we used or stepped on. Using someone is not necessarily bad, as they can be using us too.
I am not sure I believe in destiny. We have a future that is made up of the past, and imponderables, chance, love, betrayal, history.... To think we are in control, really in control of our lives -- one could only wish it were to some degree true.
Maybe pessimism is inherited but not genetic....my mother is a pessimist, so I learned pessimism from her. It is learned,imbibed with mother's milk. I think for most people, simple as we are, pessimism is simply expecting the worst to happen in any given situation, or even just preparing yourself for the worst. We check where the exit is in relation to our own seat on the plane, we fasten our seat belts. This is learned behavior, smart, but it has to affect our outlook in general as well. Who can truly claim to be an optimist unless she lives in total isolation? Things are definitely getting worse on almost ALL fronts. There was a survey taken among junior high students only fifty years ago (this was US) asking what they viewed as the major problems in their schools. The answers: running in the halls, chewing gum in class, maybe cheating on a test.
So somebody recently had the bright idea of doing the same survey in the same schools. You can imagine:
rape, assault, murder, drugs, robbery. What a long way to have come in 50 years. Apply it to ANYthing outside the arts: global warming, nuclear proliferation, AIDS, shark finning. Optimism is for idiots.
Well, poop. I cannot manage the simplest thing, I guess. I wrote much more, and it is not there. Talves voy a botar la toalla.
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