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In part #8 I will look at reasoned optimism that emphasises an ideal life that is regarded not only as possible but also as depending on conditions which lie mainly, if not exclusively, within our control.
In later blogs I will take you through to what I think is a resolution of the paradox. A way to find meaning where there is none.
#8 Reasoned optimism
The doctrine of reasoned optimism ‘emphasises an ideal life that is regarded not only as possible but also as depending on conditions which lie mainly, if not exclusively, within [our] own control.’ The apparent proofs for this argument are derived from empirical evidence - the observed facts of life; scientific truth - reasoning from truths of human nature; and transcendent proofs - theological or metaphysical ideas which attempt to establish a priori the worth of life. Documenting the history of reasoned optimism would require we touch on the whole history of thought, both theological and philosophical. This would be an over indulgence on my part, therefore, I shall confine myself to a brief exposition.
When examining transcendent ends it was suggested that monotheism was in the main optimistic. Indeed we might conclude that all theories of Divine being may be regarded as a reasoned optimism inasmuch as God is believed to be accessible by humankind, and susceptible to influence by prayer. Moreover, on the last day good is said to prevail over evil; what could be more optimistic than this?
Older still than some monotheistic religions and philosophical optimism is Hinduism. Developing over several thousand years Hinduism, which is more properly a tradition interwoven with a social system, has no specific doctrine, rather it places emphasis on the right way of living. More importantly, from our point of view, is the idea of transmigration or reincarnation which is said to be determined by the individual. Rebirth might be pleasant or unpleasant according to one’s karma; the law by which the consequences of individual actions in one life are carried over and influence the next. Whilst we might have cause to take either a pessimistic or optimistic view about our next rebirth, the tone of Hinduism is fundamentally optimistic as the ultimate spiritual end is moksha, or release from the cycle of samsara; birth, death and rebirth.
Similarly those philosophical doctrines previously can be said to be optimistic in outlook. In Greece of antiquity we find a predominance of optimism, albeit differing views, as to why life was on the whole good - cosmologically or theologically. Again the theories of both Socrates and Plato are in the main optimistic.
Leaping through history and thereby much of the Christian doctrine which is, with the probable exception of Calvinism, optimistic, we come to the philosophical culmination of optimism in Leibniz. Nowhere do we find optimism so explicitly defended and interwoven in a philosophical system. But as much has already been said against theological or transcendent ends as constituted by ‘[T]he two cardinal elements of optimism in Christian theology, namely, the existence of a wise and benevolent Creator, and a future state’ I shall say no more and instead refer you to the strategy of transcendent ends discussed already.
Whilst Christian optimism has dominated much intellectual thought for centuries not all systems of reasoned optimism are theological. We find further examples of a predominance of reasoned optimism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from Shaftesbury (Third Earl) and Pope. On the continent we also find much in both Voltaire and Rousseau to suggest a reasoned optimism. We also find that what at first appears pessimistic in Kant culminates in metaphysical optimism in the form of a moral freedom being the ultimate end. Similarly with Schelling, pessimism culminates in an optimistic solution thereby becoming an important influence on romanticism. And finally, in Hegel we find reasoned optimism in his perception of historical evolution being an upward progression toward a rational end.
Having briefly scanned through history these practical faiths seem to have encouraged earnest endeavours. Yet closer reflection would seem to suggest that far from encouraging activity reasoned optimism discourages it, in extreme cases it even inclines us toward laziness. After all, if this is the best of all possible worlds ‘whatever is right is right’. So there exists a powerful motive not to trouble ourselves with either our concerns, still less those of others. Therefore, activity imbued by a reasoned optimism, if it arises at all, is probably only sustainable for the pursuit of the easily attainable as in the case of unreasoned optimism.
Whilst I believe the foregoing comments undermine reasoned optimism as a worthwhile perspective in that it inclines us to indolence, Schopenhauer had his own reasoned strategy to combat optimism. To this end Schopenhauer combatively staged his lectures to coincide with those of Hegel. Whilst he failed to attract many students he was to influence later movements such as existentialism. For this reason only the reasoned pessimism of existentialism and Schopenhauer will be examined in the next section.
In #9 I will show how just like reasoned optimism reasoned pessimism also emphasises an ideal life but uses this conception to highlight the worthlessness of the existing reality.