Pessimism is a mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is "Is the glass half empty or half full?"; in this situation, a pessimist is said to see the glass as half empty, or in extreme cases completely empty, while anoptimist is said to see the glass as half full. Throughout history, the pessimistic disposition has had effects on all major areas of thinking.[1]
The termpessimism derives from the Latin wordpessimus, meaning 'the worst'. It was first used byJesuit critics ofVoltaire's 1759 novelCandide, ou l'Optimisme. Voltaire was satirizing the philosophy ofLeibniz who maintained that this was the 'best (optimum) of all possible worlds'. In their attacks on Voltaire, the Jesuits of theRevue de Trévoux accused him ofpessimisme.[2]: 9
In theancient world, psychological pessimism was associated withmelancholy, and was believed to be caused by an excess ofblack bile in the body. The study of pessimism has parallels with the study ofdepression. Psychologists trace pessimistic attitudes to emotional pain or even biology.Aaron Beck argues that depression is due to unrealistic negative views about the world. Beck starts treatment by engaging in conversation with clients about their unhelpful thoughts. Pessimists, however, are often able to provide arguments that suggest that their understanding of reality is justified; as inDepressive realism or (pessimistic realism).[1] Deflection is a common method used by those who are depressed. They let people assume they are revealing everything which proves to be an effective way of hiding.[3] The pessimism item on theBeck Depression Inventory has been judged useful in predictingsuicides.[4] TheBeck Hopelessness Scale has also been described as a measurement of pessimism.[5]
Wender and Klein point out that pessimism can be useful in some circumstances: "If one is subject to a series of defeats, it pays to adopt a conservative game plan of sitting back and waiting and letting others take the risks. Such waiting would be fostered by a pessimistic outlook. Similarly if one is raking in the chips of life, it pays to adopt an expansive risk-taking approach, and thus maximize access to scarce resources."[6]
The leading causes of pessimism aregenetics, past experience, and social and environmental factors. One study of 5,187 teenage twins and their siblings suggests that genetics may account for one-third of the variance in whether someone leans toward pessimism vs.optimism, with the remaining variance due to their environment, andtwin studies suggest that, when it comes to personality, about half the differences between us are because of genetic factors. But Spector points out that throughout our lives, in response to environmental factors, our genes are constantly being dialled up and down as with a dimmer switch, a process known asepigenetics.[7][8]
Through history, some have concluded that a pessimistic attitude, although justified, must be avoided to endure. Optimistic attitudes are favored and of emotional consideration.[9]Al-Ghazali andWilliam James rejected their pessimism after sufferingpsychological, or evenpsychosomatic illness. Criticisms of this sort however assume that pessimism leads inevitably to a mood of darkness and utter depression. Many philosophers would disagree, claiming that the term "pessimism" is being abused. The link between pessimism andnihilism is present, but the former does not necessarily lead to the latter, as philosophers such asAlbert Camus believed. Happiness is not inextricably linked tooptimism, nor is pessimism inextricably linked to unhappiness. One could easily imagine an unhappy optimist, and a happy pessimist. Accusations of pessimism may be used to silence legitimate criticism.
Nouriel Roubini, an economist who introduces himself as Dr. Doom, was largely dismissed as a pessimist in 2006 for his dire but to some extent accurate predictions of afinancial crisis, ahead of the2008 financial crisis. However, financial journalistJustin Fox observed in theHarvard Business Review in 2010 that the crisis Roubini predicted was not at all like the2008 financial crisis; it involved acurrency crisis and run on the dollar and dismissed Roubini's predictions as inaccurate.[10][11][12] Others noted that "The problem is that even though he was spectacularly right on this one, he went on to predict time and time again, as the markets and the economy recovered in the years following the collapse, that there would be a follow-up crisis and that more extreme crashes were inevitable. His calls, after his initial pronouncement, were consistently wrong. Indeed, if you had listened to him, and many investors did, you would have missed the longest bull market run in US market history."[13][14][15][16] Another observed: "For a prophet, he's wrong an awful lot of the time."[17]Tony Robbins wrote: "Roubini warned of a recession in 2004 (wrongly), 2005 (wrongly), 2006 (wrongly), and 2007 (wrongly)" ... and he "predicted (wrongly) that there'd be a 'significant' stock market correction in 2013."[18] Speaking about Roubini, economistAnirvan Banerji toldThe New York Times: "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day."[19] EconomistNariman Behravesh said: "Nouriel Roubini has been singing the doom-and-gloom story for 10 years. Eventually something was going to be right."[20]
Philosophical pessimism is not a state of mind or a psychological disposition, but rather it is aworldview or philosophical position that assigns a negative value to life or existence. Philosophical pessimists commonly argue that the world contains anempirical prevalence of pains over pleasures, that existence isontologically ormetaphysically adverse to living beings, and that life is fundamentally meaningless or withoutpurpose.[21]
Philosophical pessimism stands opposed to the optimism or evenutopianism ofHegelian philosophies.Emil Cioran claimed "Hegel is chiefly responsible for modern optimism. How could he have failed to see that consciousness changes only its forms and modalities, but never progresses?"[22] Philosophical pessimism is differentiated from otherpolitical philosophies by having no ideal governmental structure or political project, rather pessimism generally tends to be an anti-systematic philosophy of individual action.[2]: 7 This is because philosophical pessimists tend to be skeptical that any politics ofsocial progress can actually improve the human condition. As Cioran states, "every step forward is followed by a step back: this is the unfruitful oscillation of history".[23] Cioran also attacks political optimism because it creates an "idolatry of tomorrow" which can be used to authorize anything in its name. This does not mean however, that the pessimist cannot be politically involved, as Camus argued inThe Rebel (1951). Pessimism about the human condition was also expressed byHobbes (1588–1679).[24][25]
There is another strain of thought generally associated with a pessimistic worldview, this is the pessimism ofcultural criticism andsocial decline.Anthony Trollope summarised the attitude with gentle mockery in 1880: "Everything is going wrong. [...] Farmers are generally on the verge of ruin. Trade is always bad. The Church is in danger. The House of Lords isn't worth a dozen years' purchase. The throne totters."[26]
Intellectuals such asOliver James correlate economic progress witheconomic inequality, the stimulation of artificial needs, andaffluenza.Anti-consumerists identify rising trends ofconspicuous consumption and self-interested, image-conscious behavior in culture. Post-modernists likeJean Baudrillard (1929–2007) have even argued that culture (and therefore our lives) now has no basis in reality whatsoever.[1]
Conservative thinkers, especiallysocial conservatives, often perceive politics in a generally pessimistic way.William F. Buckley famously remarked that he was "standing athwart history yelling 'stop!'", andWhittaker Chambers (1901-1961) was convinced that capitalism was bound to fall tocommunism, though he himself became staunchlyanti-communist. Social conservatives often seethe West as a decadent and nihilistic civilization which has abandoned its roots inChristianity and/orGreek philosophy, leaving it doomed to fall into moral and political decay.Robert Bork'sSlouching Toward Gomorrah andAllan Bloom'sThe Closing of the American Mind are famous expressions of this point of view.
Many economic conservatives andlibertarians believe that the expansion ofthe state and the role of government in society is inevitable, and that they are at best fighting a holding action against it.[citation needed][27]They hold that the natural tendency of people is to be ruled and that freedom is an exceptional state of affairs which is now being abandoned in favor of social and economic security provided by thewelfare state.[citation needed] Political pessimism has sometimes found expression indystopian novels such asGeorge Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four.[28] Political pessimism about one's country often correlates with a desire toemigrate.[29]
Puolanka, a municipality located in theKainuu region in the northernFinland, has been called the "most pessimistic municipality in Finland",[34] and in 2019, the municipality gained worldwide publicity when theBBC published a video about Puolanka, describing it as the "most pessimistic town in the world".[35] Pessimism has a long tradition in the Kainuu region, mostly because Kainuu was a poor region that had often suffered fromfamines in the late 19th century and early 20th century, which is why the region is also called a "hunger land".[36]
Technological pessimism is the belief that advances in science and technology do not lead to an improvement in the human condition. Technological pessimism can be said to have originated during theIndustrial Revolution with theLuddite movement. Luddites blamed the rise of industrial mills and advanced factory machinery for the loss of their jobs and set out to destroy them. TheRomantic movement was also pessimistic towards the rise of technology and longed for simpler and more natural times. Poets likeWilliam Wordsworth andWilliam Blake believed that industrialization was polluting the purity of nature.[37]
Some social critics and environmentalists believe thatglobalization,overpopulation and the economic practices of moderncapitalist states over-stress the planet'secological equilibrium. They warn that unless something is done to slow this,climate change will worsen eventually leading to some form of social andecological collapse.[38]James Lovelock believes that theecology of the Earth has already been irretrievably damaged, and even an unrealistic shift in politics would not be enough to save it. According to Lovelock, the Earth's climate regulation system is being overwhelmed by pollution and the Earth will soon jump from its current state into a dramatically hotter climate.[39] Lovelock blames this state of affairs on what he calls "polyanthroponemia", which is when: "humans overpopulate until they do more harm than good." Lovelock states:
The presence of 7 billion people aiming for first-world comforts…is clearly incompatible with the homeostasis of climate but also with chemistry, biological diversity and the economy of the system.[39]
An infamous anarcho-primitivist isTheodore Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, who engaged in a nationwide mail bombing campaign. In his 1995Unabomber Manifesto, he called attention to the erosion of human freedom by the rise of the modern "industrial-technological system".[40] The manifesto begins thus:
The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. They have greatly increased the life-expectancy of those of us who live in "advanced" countries, but they have destabilized society, have made life unfulfilling, have subjected human beings to indignities, have led to widespread psychological suffering (in the Third World to physical suffering as well) and have inflicted severe damage on the natural world. The continued development of technology will worsen the situation. It will certainly subject human beings to greater indignities and inflict greater damage on the natural world, it will probably lead to greater social disruption and psychological suffering, and it may lead to increased physical suffering even in "advanced" countries.
Natural resources flow through the economy and end up as waste and pollution.
"Entropy pessimism" represents a special case of technological and environmental pessimism, based onthermodynamic principles.[41]: 116 According to thefirst law of thermodynamics, matter and energy is neither created nor destroyed in the economy. According to thesecond law of thermodynamics—also known asthe entropy law—what happens in the economy is that all matter and energy is transformed from states available for human purposes (valuablenatural resources) to states unavailable for human purposes (valuelesswaste andpollution). In effect, all of man's technologies and activities are only speeding up the general march against a future planetary "heat death" of degraded energy, exhausted natural resources and a deteriorated environment—a state of maximum entropy locally on earth; "locally" on earth, that is, when compared to theheat death of the universe, taken as a whole.
Among other matters, the entropy pessimism position is concerned with the existential impossibility of allocating Earth's finite stock of mineral resources evenly among an unknown number of present and future generations. This number of generations is likely to remain unknown to us, as there is no way—or only little way—of knowing in advance if or whenhumankind will ultimately face extinction. In effect,any conceivable intertemporal allocation of the stock will inevitably end up with universal economic decline at some future point.[45]: 369–371 [46]: 253–256 [47]: 165 [48]: 168–171 [49]: 150–153 [50]: 106–109 [44]: 546–549 [51]: 142–145
Bibas writes that somecriminal defense attorneys prefer to err on the side of pessimism: "Optimistic forecasts risk being proven disastrously wrong at trial, an embarrassing result that makes clients angry. On the other hand, if clients plead based on their lawyers' overly pessimistic advice, the cases do not go to trial and the clients are none the wiser."[52]
^Beck, AT; Steer, RA; Kovacs, M (1985), "Hopelessness and eventual suicide: a 10-year prospective study of patients hospitalized with suicidal ideation",American Journal of Psychiatry,142 (5):559–563,CiteSeerX10.1.1.462.6328,doi:10.1176/ajp.142.5.559,PMID3985195
^Beck, AT; Weissman, A; Lester, D; Trexler, L (1974), "The measurement of pessimism: the hopelessness scale",Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,42 (6), Journal of Consulting and Clinical:861–5,doi:10.1037/h0037562,PMID4436473
^Wender, PH; Klein, DF (1982),Mind, Mood and Medicine, New American Library
^Walton, C.; Johnson, P.J. (2012).Hobbes's 'Science of Natural Justice'. International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées. Springer Netherlands. p. 64.ISBN978-94-009-3485-6. Retrieved2023-03-20.
^Compare:Holmes, Jack E.; Engelhardt, Michael J.; Elder, Robert E. (1991).American Government: Essentials & Perspectives. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 16.ISBN9780070297678. Retrieved31 July 2023.[Those] more sympathetic to libertarian views on the role of government have been in the position of fighting a holding action against the growth of government [...].
