Concept information
Preferred term
pessimism
Definition
- Often misunderstood as a negative disposition, pessimism is a long-standing tradition in modern political philosophy with roots in ancient philosophies of the self, such as Stoicism and Epicureanism. Like its opposite, optimism (which takes a variety of philosophical forms in liberalism, Marxism, and pragmatism, for example), pessimism presupposes modern linear conceptions of time, which replaced the cyclical accounts of ancient philosophers and historians in the late Renaissance period. [Source: Encyclopedia of Political Theory; Pessimism]
Broader concept
Belongs to group
URI
https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/pessimism
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