Panglossianism

Five optimists 1. The term "panglossianism" describes baseless optimism of the sort exemplified by Pangloss's beliefs, which are the opposite of his fellow traveller Martin's pessimism and emphasis on free will.

Archive 2008-02-01 2008

But in supposing that there is some kind of directional bias, each of these hypotheses might be thought to be committed to the kind of Panglossianism about adaptation that Gould and Lewontin (1978) are famous for critiquing, or (more subtly) to a view of evolutionary change as progressive or inevitable in some way.

The Biological Notion of Individual Wilson, Robert A. 2007

The far left press's eternal Panglossianism - occasionally tantamount to self-delusion - does not count in this respect.

stroppyblog 2009

“silly Panglossianism about politics that says, ‘Any wrong must be traceable to another wrong; if only we never did anything wrong, no one would ever do anything wrong tous.’”

The Volokh Conspiracy » Antiwar Libertarianism 2004

And it’s the kind of silly Panglossianism about politics that says, “Any wrong must be traceable to another wrong; if only we never did anything wrong, no one would ever do anything wrong to us.”

The Volokh Conspiracy » Why Not Vote Libertarian? 2004

That’s what I mean by Panglossianism– the thought that there’s any particular relationship between the rightness or wrongness of our policies and how other people decide to act on us.

The Volokh Conspiracy » Antiwar Libertarianism 2004

But it is a fallacy– one akin to if not quite identical with Panglossianism– to hold to the invisible hand explanation that terrorism is caused by the moral faults of the victims’ governments, that there’s some causal mechanism that links the moral wrongness of one state’s actions to the decision by other states or non-state actors to take violent action.

The Volokh Conspiracy » Antiwar Libertarianism 2004