Shirly Ong
English 48B
17 January, 2008
Journal #1 Ambrose Bierce
Quote:
Optimism -- The doctrine, or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong…Being a blind faith, it is …an intellectual disorder, yielding to no treatment but death. It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.
Summary:
This is Ambrose Bierce’s definition of optimism in this Devil’s Dictionary. It demonstrates Bierce’s philosophy.
Response:
From this quote, we can learn that Ambrose Bierce is an obvious pessimist. He disapproves optimism. He thinks optimism is “a blind faith” and “an intellectual disorder”. To me, his view on optimism is not very reasonable. His extreme pessimism distorts the true definition of optimism. According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, optimism is “the tendency to be hopeful and to emphasize the good part of a situation rather than the bad part; the belief that good things will happen in the future”. Emphasizing the good part of a situation is different from believing a bad situation is good. I do not agree with Bierce that optimists believe everything is good. An optimist clearly knows the bad part of a situation when he emphasizes the good part. He does not ignore the bad part by believing it is good. Therefore, I believe optimism is not a blind faith. Instead, being optimistic is a better way of facing bad situations than being pessimistic. Being optimistic can reinforce one to work for better future while being pessimistic discourages one to do so as pessimism brings hopelessness. It is not surprise that people commit suicide when they are hopeless and helpless. In other words, pessimism can lead to death. This contradicts Bierce’s definition.
Even though Bierce’s definition of optimism is sarcastic and in fact fallacious, it is understandable because Bierce is well known of his pessimism and cynicism. The last sentence of this quote demonstrates Bierce’s sense of humor and sarcasms well. To him, optimism is evil. Thus, he believes it is fortunate that optimism is not contagious. This quote is remarkable to me.
English 48B
17 January, 2008
Journal #1 Ambrose Bierce
Quote:
Optimism -- The doctrine, or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong…Being a blind faith, it is …an intellectual disorder, yielding to no treatment but death. It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.
Summary:
This is Ambrose Bierce’s definition of optimism in this Devil’s Dictionary. It demonstrates Bierce’s philosophy.
Response:
From this quote, we can learn that Ambrose Bierce is an obvious pessimist. He disapproves optimism. He thinks optimism is “a blind faith” and “an intellectual disorder”. To me, his view on optimism is not very reasonable. His extreme pessimism distorts the true definition of optimism. According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, optimism is “the tendency to be hopeful and to emphasize the good part of a situation rather than the bad part; the belief that good things will happen in the future”. Emphasizing the good part of a situation is different from believing a bad situation is good. I do not agree with Bierce that optimists believe everything is good. An optimist clearly knows the bad part of a situation when he emphasizes the good part. He does not ignore the bad part by believing it is good. Therefore, I believe optimism is not a blind faith. Instead, being optimistic is a better way of facing bad situations than being pessimistic. Being optimistic can reinforce one to work for better future while being pessimistic discourages one to do so as pessimism brings hopelessness. It is not surprise that people commit suicide when they are hopeless and helpless. In other words, pessimism can lead to death. This contradicts Bierce’s definition.
Even though Bierce’s definition of optimism is sarcastic and in fact fallacious, it is understandable because Bierce is well known of his pessimism and cynicism. The last sentence of this quote demonstrates Bierce’s sense of humor and sarcasms well. To him, optimism is evil. Thus, he believes it is fortunate that optimism is not contagious. This quote is remarkable to me.
20/20 My, how optimistic :)
ReplyDelete