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The word pessimism comes from Latin pessimus, meaning "the worst".The term "optimism" was first used to name Lebnitz's thesis that we live in "the best of all possible worlds"; and "pessimism" was coined to name the opposing view.
This does not mean however, that the pessimist cannot be politically involved, as Camus argued in The Rebel (1951). Pessimism about the human condition was also expressed by Hobbes (1588–1679). [24] [25] There is another strain of thought generally associated with a pessimistic worldview, this is the pessimism of cultural criticism and social ...
Notable early expressions of pessimistic thought can be found in the works of ancient philosophers such as Hegesias of Cyrene and in the Indian texts of Buddhism. However, the modern discourse on philosophical pessimism is significantly shaped by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer [ 1 ] : 4 , whose ideas in the 19th century articulated ...
A new study from Michigan State University says that there's a physical, biological difference in the brains of optimists and pessimists. The study took 71 female participants and pre-screened ...
Usually, this prefactual thinking is paired with a pessimistic outlook, resulting in negative/undesirable imagined scenarios. With regard to the earlier example, the public speaking defensive pessimist anticipates forgetting the speech or becoming thirsty as opposed to giving an amazing speech and receiving a standing ovation.
Some research has suggested a pessimistic explanatory style may be correlated with depression [3] and physical illness. [4] The concept of explanatory style encompasses a wide range of possible responses to both positive and negative occurrences, rather than a black-white difference between optimism and pessimism.
“Perpetual optimism [is] a force multiplier.” — Colin Powell “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
It is pessimistic about the capacity of human beings to make correct ethical choices; in this aspect, naiveté is an antonym. [3] Modern cynicism is sometimes regarded as a product of mass society , especially in those circumstances where the individual believes there is a conflict between society's stated motives and goals and actual motives ...