He Hope and Optimism project applies its $5 million, three-year grant to research on the “theoretical, empirical, and practical dimensions of hope, optimism, and related states in philosophy, philosophy of religion, and the social sciences, especially psychology and sociology.” Chignell describes it as an effort to bring together the philosophers and the social scientists, and when the project added theater and film competitions, he saw those as helping to publicize the scientific research.“I do think it depicts not only how we hope, but should you hope,” said Chignell. “What should you hope for?”įurther previews of the play have been featured in Tompkins Weekly and the Ithaca Journal. Tickets can be purchased on the Hangar Theatre's website with proceeds going to the United Way of Tompkins County. A west coast production of the play will be featured at the Bootleg Theater from May 19th-June 10th.I am not an “optimist”. Though I sing the praises of progress in these essays, and though I paint a bold vision for the future, I have hesitated to apply that term to myself. In rough outline, the argument proceeds as follows: 1. I have said that I am “fundamentally” optimistic, or a “ paranoid optimist” or I have reached for constructions like “ short-term pessimist, long-term optimist”. Philosophical Progress and Reasonable Optimism A Talk or similar by Daniel Stoljar (Australian National University) at University of Birmingham (Royal.
God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent 2. God could have created a different world or none at all (i.e., there are other possible worlds) 4.
In my discussion with Tamara Winter and Trevor McKendrick on optimism, the three of us converged on a formulation that I think resolves the paradox: descriptive vs. Prescriptive optimism.ĭescriptive optimism is the expectation that good things will happen, that an outcome will be positive, that the trend is in the right direction. Prescriptive optimism is the decision to work to make good outcomes happen. Whether lighthearted or desperate, cheerful or grim, it is a commitment to action and effort.ĭescriptive optimism, for me, is highly contextual. This book defends a reasonable optimism about philosophical progress. In opposition to the positivist interpretation, represented paradigmatically by Vienna Circle philosophers, I defend that philosophy of logic from. I am mildly optimistic about our efforts against coronavirus. I am fairly pessimistic about US politics. Prescriptive optimism is deeply philosophical. It is a belief about the nature of life, intelligence, and agency. It is a moral attitude, a way of living.ĭescriptive optimism is determined by the external facts, but prescriptive optimism is an internal choice.ĭescriptive optimism on its own can lead to complacency, Panglossianism, and other cavalier attitudes-progress as coasting. Prescriptive optimism calls for boldness, courage, and vigorous effort. When the two are combined, they call for expansive, ambitious plans. The French writer and Nobel laureate Romain Rolland captured it in a passage later echoed by the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, when he wrote of When prescriptive optimism is combined with descriptive pessimism, they together call for grit, determination, and fighting spirit. Philosophical pessimism and optimism result from the critical analysis and clarification of judgments of the dominance of good or evil, an evaluation of the. This intimate alliance-which for me makes the true man-of pessimism of the intelligence, which penetrates every illusion, and optimism of the will. It is this natural bravery that is the flower of a good people, which “does not need to hope to undertake and to succeed to persevere,” but which lives in struggle over and above suffering, doubt, and the blasts of nothingness because his fiery life is the negation of death. This has been distilled to a motto: “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will”. I am a pessimist or optimist of the intellect according to facts on the ground, but I am ever an optimist of the will.
0 kommentar(er)
