Philosopher Richard Scruton, in making a case for the virtue of pessimism, explains why we tend to be optimistic idealists (as summarized by reviewer Richard King):
"Scruton identifies seven fallacies that he sees as underwriting false hope. Put briefly, these translate into a tendency to always look on the bright side, a belief that freedom is hampered by law, an unwillingness to countenance refutation, a belief that failure in one human quarter is directly connected to success in another, an inclination to impose solutions rather than letting them evolve over time, the idea that human history has an endpoint, and the tendency to assume agreeable concepts such as liberty and equality are mutually reinforcing."
We picked these tendencies up as hunter-gatherers when, presumably, they served a purpose. Now they can rush us into over-exuberant campaigns to perfect the world. As a world-perfecting ideologue, the challenge is to figure out which instincts can buoy our drive to make the world a better place - and which might lead us down blind alleys.
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