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From the UK, philosopher Jonathan Rée

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1. Trust me, I'm a pessimist

   • Jonathan Rée
   • 13 Oct 06, 02:40 PM

   Do we have a prejudice against good news? Or at least an inclination to put more trust in pessimism than in optimism?

   I suspect we do, and will come back to the point in a later post. But here’s a preliminary concern:

   I’ve never understood what people think they’re doing when they describe themselves as ‘optimists’ or ‘pessimists’. Assuming that they’re not engaged in a high metaphysical argument about Leibniz’s Theodicy, all they seem to be saying is that they have a personal disposition to look on the bright or the dark side of things. In which case they are just confessing to a bias and we ought to take heed and avoid relying on their judgments. It’s like someone who says ‘I always put too much vermouth in the martini’ or ‘I always overcook the vegetables’: the only sensible response is not to trust them when they offer to mix you a drink or cook you a meal.

   If you say, ‘I’m an optimist, so I think the problem of climate change is going to solve itself’ then surely you’re undermining your persuasiveness: the fact that you have a sunny personality is not going to help prevent global warming. And equally, if you say ‘I’m a pessimist, I think we’re all going to fry’, you’re making a bonfire of your credibility once again: you’re implying that you have chosen your analysis not on the basis of evidence or arguments, but simply because you’re an old grump – which could be true, but is hardly relevant.

   But that’s not the only paradox about optimism and pessimism.

   Continue reading "Trust me, I'm a pessimist"

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