MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 03118cam a22003258a 4500
001 8044854
005 20221201052957.0
008 100415t20102010nyu 000 0 eng
010 $a 2010016220
020 $a9780199747535 (alk. paper)
020 $a0199747539 (alk. paper)
024 $a40018360855
035 $a(OCoLC)567008036
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn567008036
035 $a(NNC)8044854
035 $a8044854
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dBTCTA$dCDX$dYDXCP$dOrLoB-B
050 00 $aB1649.S2473$bU83 2010
082 00 $a149/.6$222
100 1 $aScruton, Roger.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79091909
245 14 $aThe uses of pessimism and the dangers of false hope /$cby Roger Scruton.
260 $aNew York :$bOxford University Press,$c[2010], ©2010.
263 $a1010
300 $apages ;$ccm.
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
505 00 $gOne.$tThe First-Person Future -- $gTwo.$tThe Best Case Fallacy -- $gThree.$tThe Born Free Fallacy -- $gFour.$tThe Utopian Fallacy -- $gFive.$tThe Zero Sum Fallacy -- $gSix.$tThe Planning Fallacy -- $gSeven.$tThe Moving Spirit Fallacy -- $gEight.$tThe Aggregation Fallacy -- $gNine.$tDefences against the Truth -- $gTen.$tOur Tribal Past -- $gEleven.$tOur Civil Present -- $gTwelve.$tOur Human Future.
520 1 $a"Optimism is Fundamental to the Human Spirit and has Sparked Innovation Across the Centuries, but does it have a dark side? Renowned philosopher and author Roger Scruton argues that unchecked optimism can be dangerous---and that real happiness hinges on a healthy pessimism that recognizes the limitations of human beings." "The Uses of Pessimism is a far-reaching yet concise assessment of how pessimism can compensate for the fallacies generic to the optimistic mind-set and enable us to live with our own imperfection. Spanning from ancient Greece to the current economic crisis, the book persuasively concludes that optimists and idealists have courted disaster by overlooking the hard truths of human nature and by adopting naive expectations about what can be changed. Scruton demonstrates how many optimism-fueled advances, from the railway to the Internet, reflect a careless pursuit of mastery that is at odds with---and often undermines---the limited happiness that is the best we can obtain. He urges us to see pessimism not as dark and fatalistic but as a hopeful point-of-view that favors a balanced appraisal of society and human nature as opposed to utopian wishful thinking. Ultimately, pessimism helps focus our energies on the one reform we can truly master: bettering ourselves." "In the rigorous but lively style that is his trademark, Scruton throws down the gauntlet to readers, challenging everyone to reevaluate their assumptions about the meaning of pessimism. The Uses of Pessimism breaks down the fallacies surrounding the optimist's perpetually sunny worldview, offering a voice of wisdom with which to rein in hopes that might otherwise ruin us."--BOOK JACKET.
650 0 $aPessimism.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85100264
852 0 $bglx$hB1649.S2473$iU83 2010