Hope without Optimism

Hope without Optimism PDF Author: Terry Eagleton
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 0813937353
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
In his latest book, Terry Eagleton, one of the most celebrated intellects of our time, considers the least regarded of the virtues. His compelling meditation on hope begins with a firm rejection of the role of optimism in life’s course. Like its close relative, pessimism, it is more a system of rationalization than a reliable lens on reality, reflecting the cast of one’s temperament in place of true discernment. Eagleton turns then to hope, probing the meaning of this familiar but elusive word: Is it an emotion? How does it differ from desire? Does it fetishize the future? Finally, Eagleton broaches a new concept of tragic hope, in which this old virtue represents a strength that remains even after devastating loss has been confronted. In a wide-ranging discussion that encompasses Shakespeare’s Lear, Kierkegaard on despair, Aquinas, Wittgenstein, St. Augustine, Kant, Walter Benjamin’s theory of history, and a long consideration of the prominent philosopher of hope, Ernst Bloch, Eagleton displays his masterful and highly creative fluency in literature, philosophy, theology, and political theory. Hope without Optimism is full of the customary wit and lucidity of this writer whose reputation rests not only on his pathbreaking ideas but on his ability to engage the reader in the urgent issues of life. Page-Barbour Lectures

Hope without Optimism

Hope without Optimism PDF Author: Terry Eagleton
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 0813937353
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book Here

Book Description
In his latest book, Terry Eagleton, one of the most celebrated intellects of our time, considers the least regarded of the virtues. His compelling meditation on hope begins with a firm rejection of the role of optimism in life’s course. Like its close relative, pessimism, it is more a system of rationalization than a reliable lens on reality, reflecting the cast of one’s temperament in place of true discernment. Eagleton turns then to hope, probing the meaning of this familiar but elusive word: Is it an emotion? How does it differ from desire? Does it fetishize the future? Finally, Eagleton broaches a new concept of tragic hope, in which this old virtue represents a strength that remains even after devastating loss has been confronted. In a wide-ranging discussion that encompasses Shakespeare’s Lear, Kierkegaard on despair, Aquinas, Wittgenstein, St. Augustine, Kant, Walter Benjamin’s theory of history, and a long consideration of the prominent philosopher of hope, Ernst Bloch, Eagleton displays his masterful and highly creative fluency in literature, philosophy, theology, and political theory. Hope without Optimism is full of the customary wit and lucidity of this writer whose reputation rests not only on his pathbreaking ideas but on his ability to engage the reader in the urgent issues of life. Page-Barbour Lectures

Hope Without Optimism

Hope Without Optimism PDF Author: Terry Eagleton
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300220251
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
In a virtuoso display of erudition, thoughtfulness and humour, Terry Eagleton teases apart the concept of hope as it has been (often mistakenly) conceptualised over six millennia, from ancient Greece to today. He distinguishes hope from simple optimism, cheeriness, desire, idealism or adherence to the doctrine of Progress, bringing into focus a standpoint that requires reflection and commitment, arises from clear-sighted rationality, can be cultivated by practice and self-discipline, and which acknowledges but refuses to capitulate to the realities of failure and defeat. Authentic hope is indubitably tragic, yet Eagleton also argues for its radical implications as ‘a species of permanent revolution, whose enemy is as much political complacency as metaphysical despair’. It is a means of facing the future without devaluing the moment or obviating the past. Traversing centuries of thought about the many modes of hoping – from Ernst Bloch’s monumental work through the Stoics, Aquinas, Marx and Kierkegaard, among others – this penetrating book throws new light on religious faith and political ideology as well as issues such as the problem of evil, the role of language and the meaning of the past. Hope Without Optimism is a brilliantly engaged, impassioned chronicle of human belief and desire in an increasingly uncertain world.

The Anatomy of Hope

The Anatomy of Hope PDF Author: Jerome Groopman
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0375757759
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Why do some people find and sustain hope during difficult circumstances, while others do not? What can we learn from those who do, and how is their example applicable to our own lives? The Anatomy of Hope is a journey of inspiring discovery, spanning some thirty years of Dr. Jerome Groopman’s practice, during which he encountered many extraordinary people and sought to answer these questions. This profound exploration begins when Groopman was a medical student, ignorant of the vital role of hope in patients’ lives–and it culminates in his remarkable quest to delineate a biology of hope. With appreciation for the human elements and the science, Groopman explains how to distinguish true hope from false hope–and how to gain an honest understanding of the reach and limits of this essential emotion.

The Hope Circuit

The Hope Circuit PDF Author: Martin E. P. Seligman
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610398750
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
One of the most influential living psychologists looks at the history of his life and discipline, and paints a much brighter future for everyone. When Martin E. P. Seligman first encountered psychology in the 1960s, the field was devoted to eliminating misery: it was the science of how past trauma creates present symptoms. Today, thanks in large part to Seligman's Positive Psychology movement, it is ever more focused not on what cripples life, but on what makes life worth living -- with profound consequences for our mental health. In this wise and eloquent memoir, spanning the most transformative years in the history of modern psychology, Seligman recounts how he learned to study optimism -- including a life-changing conversation with his five-year-old daughter. He tells the human stories behind some of his major findings, like CAVE, an analytical tool that predicts election outcomes (with shocking accuracy) based on the language used in campaign speeches, the international spread of Positive Education, the launch of the US Army's huge resilience program, and the canonical studies that birthed the theory of learned helplessness -- which he now reveals was incorrect. And he writes at length for the first time about his own battles with depression at a young age. In The Hope Circuit, Seligman makes a compelling and deeply personal case for the importance of virtues like hope, gratitude, and wisdom for our mental health. You will walk away from this book not just educated but deeply enriched.

Hope in the Dark

Hope in the Dark PDF Author: Rebecca Solnit
Publisher: Haymarket Books
ISBN: 1608465799
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
“[A] landmark book . . . Solnit illustrates how the uprisings that begin on the streets can upend the status quo and topple authoritarian regimes” (Vice). A book as powerful and influential as Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, her Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of activists at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them—and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable. Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide reading of environmental, cultural, and political history, Solnit argues that radicals have a long, neglected history of transformative victories, that the positive consequences of our acts are not always immediately seen, directly knowable, or even measurable, and that pessimism and despair rest on an unwarranted confidence about what is going to happen next. Now, with a moving new introduction explaining how the book came about and a new afterword that helps teach us how to hope and act in our unnerving world, she brings a new illumination to the darkness of our times in an unforgettable new edition of this classic book. “One of the best books of the 21st century.” —The Guardian “No writer has better understood the mix of fear and possibility, peril and exuberance that’s marked this new millennium.” —Bill McKibben, New York Times–bestselling author of Falter “An elegant reminder that activist victories are easily forgotten, and that they often come in extremely unexpected, roundabout ways.” —The New Yorker

The Science of Optimism and Hope

The Science of Optimism and Hope PDF Author: Martin E. P. Seligman
Publisher: Human Kinetics 1
ISBN: 9781890151263
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description
Optimism and hope are not random feelings; they can be conscious choices. Martin E.P. Seligman, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of the world's leading authorities on learned helplessness and its relation to optimism and hope. In recognition of his contribution to the field, the John Templeton Foundation hosted a symposium to honor his work and to document its tremendous influence on the world of psychological research. This volume brings together eminent psychologists and professionals whose work has been greatly influenced by Seligman's innovative approach. The contributors focus on several concepts related to optimism and hope including expectancies, explantatory style, goal setting, future mindedness, control, and choice. They address the areas of optimism and well-being in individuals, neurobiology of optimism, psychological resilience, physical health, promoting optimism and hope, and optimism in families, faith, and cutlures. - Back cover.

Optimism

Optimism PDF Author: Helen Keller
Publisher: The Floating Press
ISBN: 1775562271
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
Stuck in a rut? Need an attitude adjustment? This inspirational classic from American author Helen Keller is bound to fit the bill. Rendered deaf and blind by scarlet fever in her infancy in a time when the disabled were often shunned and ignored, Keller managed to learn to read, write, and speak, not in only in her native English, but in several other languages, as well. Keller regards optimism as "the faith that leads to achievement," and this treatise lays out her views on making the best of even the direst of circumstances.

Materialism

Materialism PDF Author: Terry Eagleton
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300225113
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
A brilliant introduction to the philosophical concept of materialism and its relevance to contemporary science and culture In this eye-opening, intellectually stimulating appreciation of a fascinating school of philosophy, Terry Eagleton makes a powerful argument that materialism is at the center of today’s important scientific and cultural as well as philosophical debates. The author reveals entirely fresh ways of considering the values and beliefs of three very different materialists—Marx, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein—drawing striking comparisons between their philosophies while reflecting on a wide array of topics, from ideology and history to language, ethics, and the aesthetic. Cogently demonstrating how it is our bodies and corporeal activity that make thought and consciousness possible, Eagleton’s book is a valuable exposition on philosophic thought that strikes to the heart of how we think about ourselves and live in the world.

Hope's Work

Hope's Work PDF Author: David Gee
Publisher: Darton Longman and Todd
ISBN: 9781913657031
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Hope is a determination to live for what is worth living for today, whatever tomorrow may bring. In the bleakest of times hope may seem beyond our grasp, but David Gee's stirring book helps us to see where we might find it, step-by-step, moment-by-moment, in ourselves, in those alongside us, and in the world around us. Hope's Work is written to re-fresh and re-engage people who struggle to keep faith with hope in an age of violence and crisis, and is essential reading for our times. Drawing on stories of hope and resistance from past and present, this short, beautifully-designed book goes in search of what is worth living and working for, even as the future becomes harder to face.

Making Hope Happen

Making Hope Happen PDF Author: Shane J. Lopez
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451666233
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Draws on research to offer strategies for adopting a high-hope attitude and shaping a successful future, and provides real-life examples of people who create hope and have changed the lives of their communities.