Q&A: Optimism and Pessimism
Optimism and Pessimism
Question
Do you think that just as it is possible to persuade a person to adopt a philosophical position, by means of logic and rhetoric and so on, it is also possible to persuade him to go from being pessimistic to optimistic, or vice versa?
Answer
My assumption is that a philosophical position is not a mood or a psychological trait, but a worldview. A conclusion about facts. Logic and rhetoric, in the sense I am speaking about them, are ways of appealing to the intellect and not to emotion. Therefore, in your question too, it depends whether you are speaking about pessimism and optimism as traits or as worldviews.
A person who believes that the world is heading toward catastrophe is talking about facts. That is a worldview, because that is what he thinks will actually happen. Since we are dealing with facts, you can try to persuade him with various arguments that this is not correct. As a matter of fact, the world is not heading toward catastrophe.
But if the person is talking about his subjective feelings, meaning that he is living in fear as though a catastrophe is about to happen—not because of a factual assessment but because of a pessimistic disposition—then there is less room for persuasion here (though one can try to show him why he is seeing things incorrectly), and more room for psychological treatment (which probably will not succeed, as psychological treatments tend not to).
A response from N that reached my email:
What I meant was assigning value to emotions. A pessimistic person tends to assign more value and importance to feelings of suffering, both his own and those of others. An optimistic person will assign more value to feelings of happiness. Is there a way to know which of them is right? Is either of them right? In my view, this has major moral implications (which I would prefer not to get into here).
I do not see what is new here beyond what I already answered. You are describing feelings and emotions and inclinations. These are neither facts nor questions of values, so I do not see what room there is to discuss right and wrong or to raise arguments on this matter. The question is whether this bothers you or not, and therefore this is a matter for psychological treatment and not for philosophical discussion.