View of the World Essay Example for Free

View of the World Essay The fact that more and more people have been holding a cynical view of today’s world can be explained by their deep disillusion with the existing social order, conventions, and values. To some extent, by embracing cynicism those people try to psychologically protect themselves against injustices and unpleasantness of this world. Contemporary cynics refuse to believe in the noble values promoted by modern society as they have plenty of bitter evidence attesting that those values are usually empty words and beliefs while most people do things only for their own advantage. Instead of concentrating on what today’s world should be, cynics accept it as it is now and try to adapt themselves to its realities. Cynics justify their position by the fact that they do not want to be victims of self-deception and disappointment as it often happens, for example, to idealists or optimists. If the latter believe in this world’s good virtues and ideals and have positive expectations from it, cynics know that such expectations often turn into disappointment, dissatisfaction, and sufferings. Today’s world is far from being perfect, cynics emphasize, and it is wrong and even harmful to expect something good from it. What disillusion is for others, it is reality for cynics, and in this philosophy they simply seek self-protection (Bayan). Apart from moral and psychological protection against today’s imperfect world, cynics also see certain important practical advantages resulting from their doctrine. Idealists and optimists expect success from whatever they do while cynics do not exclude failure and, therefore, work harder in order to reduce the possible negative effects of their failure. This approach motivates them to be more careful and attentive, and calculate everything they do to the last detail. And, unlike idealists and optimists, cynics are prepared to deal with their failure when it occurs, since they anticipated it from the very beginning. However, it often happens that their anticipation of failure and hard work unexpectedly turn out to be success, or at least their failure is far from being as serious as they expected it to be. And for cynics, this is another proof that their doctrine does not only insulate them against today’s world’s imperfection, but also occasionally contributes to their success (Nussbaum, 2009). References Bayan, R. Positive Cynicism. Retrieved February 20, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www. i-cynic. com/positive. asp Nussbaum, N. (2009, February 10). Glass Half Empty. The Cornwell Daily Sun on the web. Retrieved February 20, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://cornellsun. com/node/34901