The uses of pessimism and the danger of false hope /
Ranging widely over human history and culture, from ancient Greece to the current global economic downturn, Scruton makes a counterintuitive yet persuasive case that optimists and idealists -- with their ignorance about the truths of human nature and human society, and their naive hopes about what c...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Oxford University Press,
©2010.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | CONNECT CONNECT |
| Summary: | Ranging widely over human history and culture, from ancient Greece to the current global economic downturn, Scruton makes a counterintuitive yet persuasive case that optimists and idealists -- with their ignorance about the truths of human nature and human society, and their naive hopes about what can be changed -- have wrought havoc for centuries. Scruton's argument is nuanced, however, and his preference for pessimism is not a dark view of human nature; rather his is a 'hopeful pessimism' which urges that instead of utopian efforts to reform human society or human nature, we focus on the onl. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (232 pages) |
| ISBN: | 9780199798735 0199798737 1282797387 9781282797383 9786612797385 661279738X |
