Tag Archives: pessimism

My “Candide” Retort to Margaret MacMillan

Posted on January 29, 2014 by

It’s 2014. A hundred years ago, the assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand initiated a series of calamitous events that brought on World War I. And the way WWI ended (with the Versailles Treaty) led to yet another series … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Increasing Knowledge Does Not Increase The Peace

Posted on February 25, 2013 by

That, at any rate, is John Gray’s thesis, and he has a new book out. In a recent interview at The Spectator, he had this to say: [K]nowledge can never eradicate the conflicts of the human world, or produce harmony where … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

2012: The Best Year In All Of Human History?

Posted on December 18, 2012 by

It sounds like a joke, but that’s the thesis of the lead article in The Spectator’s 2012 Christmas issue: Never has there been less hunger, less disease or more prosperity. The West remains in the economic doldrums, but most developing … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Bit of Life Perspective from Woody Allen (and Owen Wilson)

Posted on November 20, 2012 by

In the below video, Woody Allen offers some unsettling and thought-provoking responses to some questions. Owen Wilson is also interesting. _________ Allen’s resigned and melancholy answers remind me that the winter holiday season is here and that my favorite Christmas … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gray on Pink(er): Because of Our Evolution, the Irrational We’ll Always Have With Us

Posted on February 16, 2012 by

John Gray thinks Steven Pinker’s thesis in his new book—in which Pinker argues that the world is progressing toward an ever less violent future—is deluded. In the Jacob-wrestle between Enlightenment rationality and our evolution-formed imperatives, Gray is betting that our … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Cassandra 2012

Posted on November 30, 2011 by

___ I’m feeling increasingly bleak about the human future going into 2012. I say this without the least pleasure because I have two small children (one is five, the other is eight). I don’t want anything I point to here … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Humanist Delusion?

Posted on October 31, 2011 by

In his book, Straw Dogs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002), professor of European thought, John Gray, argues that the humanist belief in progress is deluded in part because our experience of “consciousness, selfhood, and free will” are uneven at best (p. 38): Our lives … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Bit of Happy News for the Weekend

Posted on February 25, 2011 by

Willem Buiter is Citgroup’s chief economist, and here’s CNBC today reporting his forecast for the global economy over the next 40 years: “We expect strong growth in the world economy until 2050, with average real GDP growth rates of 4.6 percent … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Some Perpective on the New Year: A Bit of Pessimistic Buddha-Wisdom from Arthur Schopenhauer (and Monty Python)

Posted on December 25, 2009 by

A little something to keep life and the New Year in perspective. Arthur Schopenhauer, from Book 1, Section 16 of The World as Will and Representation (1818, translated from the German by E.F. Payne): For whenever a man in any … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cosmic Pessimism v. Cosmic Optimism

Posted on September 3, 2009 by

The universe appears to be lacking in purpose in some ways, but not in others. For example, the Holocaust and the panda’s “thumb” would seem to suggest that we live in a historically contingent universe indifferent and blind to both suffering and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Albert Camus on Negation and Absurdity

Posted on June 23, 2009 by

This quote is from Albert Camus’s essay, “Pessimism and Tyranny.” It appeared in COMBAT, September 1945: No, everything is not summed up in negation and absurdity. We know this. But we must first posit negation and absurdity because they are what … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On Entropy, the Goddess Fortuna, and the Malice of Others: My Favorite Arthur Schopenhauer Quote

Posted on June 15, 2009 by

Arthur Schopenhauer wrote this in his “The World as Will and Representation” (Dover Edition, vol. 1, p. 88): “For whenever a man in any way loses self-control, or is struck down by a misfortune, or grows angry, or loses heart, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are You a Passive Pessimist, ala Schopenhauer, or an Agressive Pessimist, ala Nietzsche?: A Review of Joshua Dienstag’s Book, “Pessimism”

Posted on July 21, 2008 by

Pessimism (Princeton 2006), by Joshua Foa Dienstag, is excellent on many levels, but its chief value is in the way it locates “pessimism” as an identifiable philosophical position. The author traces the pessimistic tradition through the Dionysian pre-Socratics, Rousseau, Schopenhauer, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment