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From Nordan Symposia
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==Origin==
French pessimisme, from [[Latin]] pessimus worst
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 1815]
==Definitions==
*1: an inclination to emphasize [[adverse]] aspects, conditions, and [[possibilities]] or to expect the worst possible outcome
*2a : the [[doctrine]] that [[reality]] is [[essentially]] [[evil]]
:b : the [[doctrine]] that [[evil]] overbalances [[happiness]] in life
==Description==
'''Pessimism''', from the [[Latin]] pessimus (worst), is a [[state]] of [[mind]] in which one [[perceives]] life [[negatively]]. [[Value]] [[judgments]] may vary dramatically between [[individuals]], even when judgments of [[fact]] are undisputed. The most common example of this [[phenomenon]] is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?" situation. The [[degree]] in which situations like these are [[evaluated]] as something good or something bad can be described in terms of one's [[optimism]] or pessimism respectively. Throughout [[history]], the pessimistic disposition has had [[effects]] on all major areas of [[thinking]].
Philosophical pessimism is the similar but not [[identical]] [[idea]] that life has a [[negative]] [[value]], or that this world is as bad as it could possibly be. It has also been noted by many philosophers that pessimism is not a disposition as the term commonly connotes. Instead, it is a cogent [[philosophy]] that directly [[challenges]] the notion of [[progress]] and what may be considered the [[faith]]-based claims of [[optimism]].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer]'s pessimism comes from his elevating of [[Free will|Will]] above [[reason]] as the mainspring of [[human]] [[thought]] and [[behavior]]. Schopenhauer pointed to motivators such as [[hunger]], [[sexuality]], the need to [[care]] for [[children]], and the need for [[shelter]] and [[personal]] [[security]] as the real sources of [[human]] [[motivation]]. Reason, compared to these factors, is mere window-dressing for human thoughts; it is the clothes our [[naked]] hungers put on when they go out in [[public]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer Schopenhauer] sees [[reason]] as weak and insignificant compared to Will; in one [[metaphor]], Schopenhauer [[compare]]s the human [[intellect]] to a lame man who can see, but who rides on the shoulder of the blind giant of Will.
Likening [[human]] life to the life of other [[animals]], he saw the reproductive [[cycle]] as indeed a cyclical [[process]] that continues pointlessly and indefinitely, unless the chain is broken by too limited [[resources]] to make continued life possible, in which case it is terminated by [[extinction]]. The prognosis of either pointlessly continuing the [[cycle]] of life or facing extinction is one major leg of Schopenhauer's pessimism.
Schopenhauer moreover considers the [[desires]] of the will to entail [[suffering]]: because these selfish [[desires]] create constant [[conflict]] in the world. The [[business]] of [[biological]] life is a [[war]] of all against all. Reason only compounds our [[suffering]] by allowing us to [[realize]] that [[biology]]'s [[agenda]] is not something we would have [[chosen]] had we been given a [[choice]], but it is [[ultimately]] helpless to prevent us from serving it or to [[free]] us from the sting of its goad.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pessimism]
==See also==
*'''''[[Optimism]]'''''
[[Category: Psychology]]
==Origin==
French pessimisme, from [[Latin]] pessimus worst
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 1815]
==Definitions==
*1: an inclination to emphasize [[adverse]] aspects, conditions, and [[possibilities]] or to expect the worst possible outcome
*2a : the [[doctrine]] that [[reality]] is [[essentially]] [[evil]]
:b : the [[doctrine]] that [[evil]] overbalances [[happiness]] in life
==Description==
'''Pessimism''', from the [[Latin]] pessimus (worst), is a [[state]] of [[mind]] in which one [[perceives]] life [[negatively]]. [[Value]] [[judgments]] may vary dramatically between [[individuals]], even when judgments of [[fact]] are undisputed. The most common example of this [[phenomenon]] is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?" situation. The [[degree]] in which situations like these are [[evaluated]] as something good or something bad can be described in terms of one's [[optimism]] or pessimism respectively. Throughout [[history]], the pessimistic disposition has had [[effects]] on all major areas of [[thinking]].
Philosophical pessimism is the similar but not [[identical]] [[idea]] that life has a [[negative]] [[value]], or that this world is as bad as it could possibly be. It has also been noted by many philosophers that pessimism is not a disposition as the term commonly connotes. Instead, it is a cogent [[philosophy]] that directly [[challenges]] the notion of [[progress]] and what may be considered the [[faith]]-based claims of [[optimism]].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer]'s pessimism comes from his elevating of [[Free will|Will]] above [[reason]] as the mainspring of [[human]] [[thought]] and [[behavior]]. Schopenhauer pointed to motivators such as [[hunger]], [[sexuality]], the need to [[care]] for [[children]], and the need for [[shelter]] and [[personal]] [[security]] as the real sources of [[human]] [[motivation]]. Reason, compared to these factors, is mere window-dressing for human thoughts; it is the clothes our [[naked]] hungers put on when they go out in [[public]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer Schopenhauer] sees [[reason]] as weak and insignificant compared to Will; in one [[metaphor]], Schopenhauer [[compare]]s the human [[intellect]] to a lame man who can see, but who rides on the shoulder of the blind giant of Will.
Likening [[human]] life to the life of other [[animals]], he saw the reproductive [[cycle]] as indeed a cyclical [[process]] that continues pointlessly and indefinitely, unless the chain is broken by too limited [[resources]] to make continued life possible, in which case it is terminated by [[extinction]]. The prognosis of either pointlessly continuing the [[cycle]] of life or facing extinction is one major leg of Schopenhauer's pessimism.
Schopenhauer moreover considers the [[desires]] of the will to entail [[suffering]]: because these selfish [[desires]] create constant [[conflict]] in the world. The [[business]] of [[biological]] life is a [[war]] of all against all. Reason only compounds our [[suffering]] by allowing us to [[realize]] that [[biology]]'s [[agenda]] is not something we would have [[chosen]] had we been given a [[choice]], but it is [[ultimately]] helpless to prevent us from serving it or to [[free]] us from the sting of its goad.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pessimism]
==See also==
*'''''[[Optimism]]'''''
[[Category: Psychology]]
