It seems to me that sincere but unreasonable pessimism can be helped by talking to the person. I don't claim that that actually happens. My pessimism in childhood and teen years would have yielded to a little spoken reason from people who knew better than I did.

But, regarding philosophical pessimism, it isn't even meaningful to speak of a "cure" for it. Philosophical pessimism, existential angst, is a fashionable schtick.

Michael Ossipoff

An optimistic Welcome to The Philosophy Forum.

I don't know how "rampant" pessimism is. It seems to me that if people were paying attention to what is going on, they would certainly be very pessimistic. That's 25% joke, 75% statement-of-fact.

As far as depression goes, I have found that "whatever depression is" and "whatever parts of the brain it affects" it does disrupt my thinking. It has tended to give my thinking a pessimistic, perfectionistic cast, and at the same time produced behavior which was anything but perfection. More like self-defeating.

About 6 years ago my chronic mid-range-severity depression lifted. Since then I have had a quite positive outlook on life. Of course, it's possible that I simply became totally insane, and am seeing fields of flowers in lala land instead of nettles and burdock. But I don't thinks so.

Is pessimism merely brain chemistry? I don't think it is entirely chemical. Real circumstances, real facts, real experiences can lead us to a state of relative hopeless pessimism. And real events can lead us to a state of relative optimism. Brain chemistry can give mental 'trends' an extra push.

Risk and depression: Some people are risk tolerant and other people are risk averse to varying degrees, and that is independent of mental health. Depression might exaggerate either risk tolerance or aversion, depending on how an individual's brain works. I've always been fairly risk tolerant and depression didn't change that. My partner was always risk averse, and nothing ever changed that either.

There are certain philosophies which seem to set up a pessimistic view of the world. Our active member Schopenhauer1 is an example. I haven't read the original Schopenhauer, but to the extent that his quotes from Schopenhauer are representative, he was a philosophical pessimist. Arthur Schopenhauer played the flute. I gather he had a pet dog too - a poodle. When the dog misbehaved, Schopenhauer would say to the dog, “You are not a dog, but a human being, a human being!" So, human beings never misbehave, Arthur? Flute playing dog owners can't be too pessimistic.

There are antinatalists, among others, who from whatever source are philosophical pessimists.

I think rampant pessimism could be learned helplessness.

It seems to me that facts about reality can not logically entail emotional response. The link between judgements, information and mental sates or emotional response is puzzling. It is part of the mind vs body, semantics vs the physical issue.

So I think making someone happier or more optimistic by biochemistry or brain manipulation is fine.

However I do think some optimism can be delusional. If people feel happier because they have formed false and damaging judgements that could be harmful. But do all positive emotions lead to a diminishing of reason and vice versa?
Even if we are doomed it doesn't' seem to help being depressed about it because that just adds to the overall discomfort.

I think how we respond to information could be subjective so that some people are just more affected by things than others. Optimism might be a defence mechanism against anxiety. Pessimism might be a sign of low self esteem and helplessness.

All of that said however I value the truth over emotion and wouldn't want a world based just on how people felt at the time.

I think there are as many types of depression as there are people who are depressed. I would think that all types are in a sense endogenous in that where else are they going to originate. The article though seems to look on something called 'rampant pessimism' as a cause, except when it doesn't, and presents an exogenous idea at the start only to then move onto endogeneous as a cause.

I think if we're honest "endogenous" in terms of depression occupies the same niche in psychology and psychiatry that "idiopathic" does in medicine generally -- in other words: "It just happens. Why? Search me, sunshine. Haven't a Scooby."

I don't know how "rampant" pessimism is. It seems to me that if people were paying attention to what is going on, they would certainly be very pessimistic. That's 25% joke, 75% statement-of-fact. — Bitter Crank

But that is also a self-fulfilling prophecy. Good things happen when people are optimistic.

Yeah, right.

About 6 years ago my chronic mid-range-severity depression lifted. Since then I have had a quite positive outlook on life. — Bitter Crank

I knew your screen name must be a scam, a lie, fake news, a conspiracy, a coverup, and that therefore, logically and obviously, you must be an agent of the Trump administration. :smile:

But that is also a self-fulfilling prophecy. Good things happen when people are optimistic. — Hanover

Like attracts like and if you are optimistic, you can get others working in a positive mindset and good things do happen. So do bad things but I personally think the good outweighs the bad.

I have a friend (no, seriously, I really do) who's Japanese. She said (in her funny accent) that one thing that the Japanese admire about Americans (assuming she is a spokeswoman for the Japanese) is their optimism, which instigates risk taking and success. It's also the thing they don't respect, as it results in a certain amount of recklessness. My own thought is that the all good God who cradles the righteous (i.e. Americans) in his arms will not allow failure, so being optimistic comes easy.

I do find the political left in the US (which includes all of Europe and Canada) generally pessimistic and whiney. The right tends towards paranoia, but at least we don't whine and we get things done with our our upbeatness (do stop trying to take our stuff though).

:rofl:

Damn that was an inspirational post! Such a positive outlook on life! I think I will carry it with me today and spread it as best I can!

and spread it as best I can — ArguingWAristotleTiff

John Deere makes a device for spreading the heavy wet product our Georgia Peach produces:

A cure for pessimism? What would be the point? — Vinson

Perhaps medicine doesn't see eye to eye with philosophy. Pessimism is a medical ''disorder'' but in philosophy it's a reasoned position.

Perhaps it's a case of bad wording and the writer probably wanted to write about depression.

A cure for pessimism? What would be the point? — Vinson

Um, if it's implicated in depression?