Optimism, its Origins, its deep-seated flaws, and its dark irony

The Push for Optimism succeeded too well

Every day, optimism is constantly pushed by advocates who hail it as a cure for depression, a major force for positive change, and a very strong tool for mental health. In spite of its perks, optimism, even when grounded, has its flaws, some of which are more deeply rooted, so much so that its advocates would unconsciously divert attention from them than and insist on its utility than to admit it. Then there are its origins, which are so absurd it's hard believe such a philosophy even "evolved" in the first place. What people consider an asset to society and a solution for depression may be the very thing that inadvertently create comforting falsehoods, and more critically be the blueprint to humanity's downfall.

It must be noted that optimism originated as an art of theology, devised by Christians, particularly two members: a polymath named Gottfried Willhelm Leibniz, and a poet named Alexander Pope. Given what these two are Christians, the reasoning these two have, well-intentioned as it may appear, is less than stellar; the philosopies of the two men deconstructed by Voltaire:

Leibniz asserts that optimism "Is the best of all possible worlds,"  insisting that "by considering his works, we can discover the creator." So how does Leibniz excuse evil in support for optimism? By explaining the concept of a "deficient cause" in which he explains that "the formal character of evil has no efficient cause, for it consists in privation […], in that which the efficient cause does not bring about. That is why the Schoolmen are wont to call the cause of evil deficient” (H, 139). To illustrate this concept, Leibniz offered examples of deficient causes: the river carries a heavy barge more slowly (H, 386) and “water in freezing is capable of breaking a gun-barrel wherein it is confined; and yet cold is a certain privation of force." To show the callousness and the lack of sufficient consideration from optimism, Leibniz expressed hope that people will do without hoping for results, having written that “these considerations must be held to be not only pleasing and consoling, but most true. I think that in the universe nothing is truer than happiness, nor is anything happier or sweeter than truth.” From what can be gathered from this speech, Leibniz insists that all truths must have a sense of comfort, no matter how harsh the truth may be. 

Alexander Pope concluded in his poem An Essay on Man that "One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right."

The philosophy of both literature are ripped apart by Voltaire in the article "Historical Perspectives on Optimism", best shown in his novella Candide, in which the characters within the book "...suffer all manner of torture, tragedy, affliction, and reversal of torture." Even after all this, Voltaire explains that, once Candide parrots the teachings of the Leibnizian doctrine of optimism from his teacher Pangloss, Candide habitually "fails to learn from his impressive travels and diverse experiences." By the time Candide renounced the philosophy of optimism preached by Pangloss, he finally learned his lesson and decide to focus on pratical labor, enabling them to be productive and resist the "blandishments of philosophical speculation."

The article notes that, on a superficial level, Voltaire's critique of optimism can be easily by Voltaire and Leibniz themselves. Voltaire, however, argues that optimism not only warrants apathy in human suffering, but it (along pessimism) "...runs on speculative principles that do not admit to empirical validation."

For how much it benefits people, optimism, in spite of its support from its mature advocates, is irresponsible, as Robert Senior claims in his article The Irresponsibility of Optimism. In his article, Senior argues that the reason contrary ideas are glued together without them immediately falling apart is optimism. He argues that, for the modern mind, "there's no greater heresy than anti-optimism." (Senior 2007) Pessimism's flaws are easy to spot; people can be so depressed they don't want to move or achieve anything, it makes no progress, and it makes their hair grey and white, even if the depressed person has valid reasons to be so. The flaws of optimism, on the hand, are far better hidden; because of how much support it gets for how useful it is and advocates telling their audience stories of its (perceived) accomplishments, it can become a frustrating endeavor for the critic to completely deconstruct optimism. Senior further argues that optimists persists in the belief in a better future "in spite of the fact that with each day that passes the enduring power of human evil forces itself on our unwilling attention." This is somewhat true, as even with a combination of effort and social principles like transparency, it still won't prevent treachery and deception, nor does it stop dictators from gate-keeping narratives to appease their critics. Robert Senior also notes that Optimism feeds off evil and disaster, believing that the worse things get, the better the outcome it will be, the conditions and extremes of which some people are willing to go through to accept "fear, misery, degradation and death so long as they feel that they are heading towards a glorious future..." (Senior 2007) It seems that Senior has realized that optimists have a tendency to fool themselves, whether it's consciously, subconsciously, or inadvertently; he recognizes a form of irony within optimism, pointing out that the optimist see every crisis and disaster as an obstacle to overcome to achieve greatness/paradise, never stopping to reflect and realize the crisis/disaster "may itself be the result of the application of optimism." (Senior 2007) He think optimists have a tendency to treat to think much of the past was worse. He insists that, while the supporters of optimism are convinced that the future can be different from the past, they're "using the past to support their belief in the future." (Senior 2007) Senior seems to believe that the future is a crapshoot; one's efforts can't be as they have envisioned previously, or worse yet, may cause the opposite of effect of why they wanted to achieve. In his criticism of optimism, Senior claims destroy the old to make way for the new in hopes for a better future of a greater good, not realizing that "...once destroyed, some things might be difficult or even impossible to regain. Ultimately, everything is worth sacrificing in pursuit of the future." (Senior 2007) From what can be gathered here, it's presumed that optimists have a sort of hive mind mentality where their voices are heard. Mr. Senior, after reciting a quote from Christopher Lasch, notes that optimism paradoxically has a "...weak sense of self for it is uncomfortable with the idea that humanity is at one and the same time part of nature yet not fully embedded in it." (Senior 2007) He seems to imply that optimists have a sort of "hive-minded" mentality of think of a better future. On the other hand, the mature optimists think that, by grounding their beliefs, their mistakes won't be as severe as it is if they haven't un-grounded their beliefs. Robert Senior argues that Optimism, for all of its widely praised perks, provides things with an easy conscience and a reduced sense of tragedy. To support this claim Mr. Senior then insists that, with an easy conscience granted by optimism, people are "sure that nothing they have done, do or can do, could be evil." (Senior 2007) He suggests that optimists tend to deceive and gaslight themselves into coping. Mr. Senior points out that optimism permits such an illusion, convincing its supporters and listeners of "a process of betterment and that so long as they fulfill their duty to this process, nothing they do can be wrong." (Senior.) The author believes that optimism has an underlying sense of narcissism. Earlier into the article, Senior suspects that optimism enables users to have an "...overweening pride in our achievements and a derogation of the inadequacies of the past operates as a defence against those fundamental weaknesses of human nature..." (Senior 2007)

To prove Robert Senior's specific claims on optimism being a form of narcissism, two researchers, Charlotte Robinson and Adrian Furnham have done four studies of optimism in their article Correlates of Self-Assessed Optimism one of which covers the Just World Belief. In their report, they believe that people with the Just World Belief tend to blame their victims due to "a fundamental need to believe that the (social) world is a just place, and that this belief is functionally necessary for them to develop principles of deservingness." (Robinson and Furnham, 2022) Robinson and Furham believe that being optimistic will provide better results for the future. However, this has failed; it instead made things worse and created even more comforting lies merely to cope. In a separate article Free to blame? Belief in free will is related to victim blaming, written by Oliver Genschow and Benjamin Vehlow, they find that people believe in free will are more likely to blame their victims. Deriving their report from another article in 2003 having written by the aforementioned Furnham, Genschow and Vehlow surmises that believing in a just world tend to blame their victims for their misfortune in an attempt to "maintain their belief in a just world" (Genschow and Vehlow, 2020). Genschow and Vehlow may also believe that this exact kind of optimism is the reason why criminals tend to fool themselves into believing they haven't done anything wrong.

The push for optimism, even when done in a healthy manner, succeeded too well. Instead of making things more honest, they inadvertently created more people. Even though its mature supporters list its perks well, its flaws are something they failed to fully consider and identify. Instead of bringing communities closer to the truth, they cling to their own positive convictions that only serve to enable whatever comforting lies that are being repeated today. Nowhere is this more apparent in Christianity, a religion that claims "Diversity is our strength," that "Jesus loves everyone." "Revenge is not Justice." With Christians, it's just one comforting lie after another, all to fulfill the agenda of their Jewish masters.

 

 

 

• Robert Senior, The Irresponsibility of Optimism: http://www.pennilesspress.co.uk/prose/irresponsibility_of_optimism.htm
• Charlotte Robinson and Adrien Furham, Correlates of Self-Assessed Optimism: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518222000249
• Oliver Genschow and Benjamin Vehlow, Free to blame? Belief in free will is related to victim blaming: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810020305419