You are chained to your own cheerfulness like a slave to his oar’ (Eagleton, Hope without Optimism, 3). ‘There is nothing you can do about being an optimist, rather as there is nothing you can do about being five foot four. Both optimism and pessimism ‘are forms of fatalism’. And for the sake of balance, it’s worth saying that pessimism does the same thing. While we too may have a tendency to view the world through rose-tinted spectacles, the problem is that optimism professes to know the future. ‘The whole wave he says keeps moving.’ There may be occasional setbacks, but ‘the progressive trend is unmistakable and will continue.’ As Eagleton says: ‘So there we are, then: we have it from the mouth of Mr Public Science himself that aside from a few local, temporary hiccups like ecological disasters, famine, the global AIDS pandemic, ethnic wars and nuclear wastelands, History is perpetually on the up.’ In Eagleton’s estimation, for Dawkins at least, the problem with religion is that it stands in the way of ‘progress.’ When it comes to global politics, in The God Delusion, Dawkins believes in what he calls a zeitgeist involving ever increasing progress, with just the occasional reversal. We might share Dawkins’ distaste at fundamentalism: but as Eagleton points out, it is remarkable that his anti-religious diatribes have never been matched in his work by a critique of the global capitalism that generates the hatred, anxiety, insecurity and sense of humiliation that breed fundamentalism. There is indeed, much bad religion out there in the world, which provides an easy target for Dawkins’ invective. 20, 19 October 2006, 32).Ĭertainly, Dawkins book was ill-informed, in spite of his claims to the contrary. I remember a review he wrote of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, which began with the memorable line: ‘ ‘Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology’ ( London Review of Books, Vol. The banality of optimism is a theme which has preoccupied Eagleton for some time. It is just as irrational as believing that all will be well because you are an Albanian, or because it has just rained for three days in a row.’ (Eagleton, Hope without Optimism, 1). Of optimism, he says that ‘There may be many good reasons for believing that a situation will turn out well, but to expect that it will do so because you are an optimist is not one of them. For a Marxist, Eagleton’s writing has taken a decidedly theological turn in recent years. The question brought to mind a recent book by the literary critic, Terry Eagleton, Hope without Optimism (London: Yale University Press, 2017). Are you an optimist? This was the question posed to David Attenborough in a television interview the other day.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |