Earlier today I read a piece on the incredible Hegel’s Bagels site.

The particular piece I read was “Introduction to the Dialectic of the Good” where Coleman Gariety describes the good and uses the dialectic to derive optimism, pessimism, etc. from the good. I do not yet understand the dialectic in a comprehensive way, but I plan to develop an understanding of it that will help me study dialectical materialism and, by extension, Marxism.

On the topic of the Gariety’s piece, though, I’d like to focus on the dialectical relationship between optimism and pessimism.

I know one too many people that fall into a void of pessimism about the future and about humans. On some point I understand this sentiment given the ongoing contradictions going on around us that further expose the destruction of Earth. However, to conclude that “goodness is not” without considering its negation, “goodness is” means you are coming to an incomplete conclusion.

This pessimism is considerably annoying when it’s among leftists. Having a pessimistic view of people without an optimistic view is taking a non-dialectical approach to viewing the world and is not having faith in the people. If you don’t have faith in the people that you say you’re fighting for, then why are you fighting? Shouldn’t you have at least some faith in the people whose liberation you’re fighting for? If you come to these questions, then it’s a good time to re-evaluate yourself and your way of thinking.

Needing to re-evaluate yourself after self-critique is not a “bad” thing, and in fact self-critique is important. In the spirit of that, I invite anyone who may want to critique this post to do it at the email I’ve given on the “Contact” page. I am no expert in anything I write so there’s always room to improve my ideas or re-evaluate them, so if you want to help me do that then go right ahead.