The value of the world and of oneself: philosophical optimism and pessimism from Aristotle, Maimonides, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Camus

"This book examines the longstanding debate between philosophical optimism and pessimism in the history of philosophy, focusing on Aristotle, Maimonides, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Camus. Philosophical optimists maintain that the world is optimally arranged and is accordingly valuable...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Segev, Mor (Auteur)
Type de support: Imprimé Livre
Langue:Anglais
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Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: New York, NY Oxford University Press [2022]
Dans:Année: 2022
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Aristoteles 384 avant J.-C.-322 avant J.-C. / Maimonides, Moses 1135-1204 / Spinoza, Benedictus de 1632-1677 / Schopenhauer, Arthur 1788-1860 / Nietzsche, Friedrich 1844-1900 / Camus, Albert 1913-1960 / Optimisme / Pessimisme
B Optimisme / Pessimisme / Histoire des idées
Sujets non-standardisés:B Pessimism
B Philosophy
B Optimism
Accès en ligne: Inhaltsverzeichnis (Aggregator)
Édition parallèle:Électronique
Description
Résumé:"This book examines the longstanding debate between philosophical optimism and pessimism in the history of philosophy, focusing on Aristotle, Maimonides, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Camus. Philosophical optimists maintain that the world is optimally arranged and is accordingly valuable, and that the existence of human beings is preferable over their nonexistence. Philosophical pessimists, by contrast, hold that the world is in a woeful condition and ultimately valueless, and that human nonexistence would have been preferable over our existence. Schopenhauer criticizes the optimism he locates in the Hebrew Bible and in Spinoza for being unable to square the presumed perfection of the world and its parts, including human life, with the suffering and misfortunes observable in them, and for leading to egoism and thereby to cruelty. Nietzsche, in turn, criticizes Schopenhauer's overtly pessimistic view, inter alia, for furtively positing a perfect state for one to aspire to, thus being latently optimistic. Similarly, Camus charges Nietzsche, who announces his rejection of both optimism and pessimism, with deifying the world and oneself, thereby reverting to optimism. Interestingly, Aristotle countenances an optimistic theory, later adopted and developed by Maimonides, that is arguably capable of facing Schopenhauer's challenge. Aristotelian optimism accounts for the perfection of the world in terms of a hierarchy of value between its parts, with human beings ranked relatively low, and recommends an attitude congruent with that ranking"--
Description:Includes bibliographical references and index
ISBN:0197634079