Alain de Botton on Pessimism
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- LECTURE @THE SCHOOL OF LIFE: Finding fault with the optimistic temper of the times, philosopher Alain de Botton believes that we should all learn to be a bit more pessimistic.
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God, Alain is just the best sort of weirdo there is. Who in their right mind would not just blast Sad Song to an audience, but go through the trouble of printing out the lyrics so that the entire congregation can join in? The absolute madman, I love it
And he was getting into whatever notes he was singing I just love it. Sings like me B4 I was taught how to use my voice. This guy's great and I'm only 2 talks in.
This is like a cure for depression “embrace your sadness, enjoy it” cause that’s the reality of life.
yeah...what you can't be with,won't let you be
U gotta process your emotions, u can’t hold them in
We have a subculture for this. Grab some black clothes and listen to the Cure. :)
Ideology of anti pessimist in a nut shell
Such a refreshing antidote to the disappointing cult of optimism.
in fact I couldn't agree more with you, this kind of thinking help human beings a lot...I really enjoy this lecture...
I'm so glad I'm not the only person who's happy to be slightly depressed, the only people who look happy to me are either on drugs or in a cult.
+McFraneth Fradet If being happy means one is "retarded," who in their right mind would want to be normal?
Bad word choice, pal.
Read "Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America" from Barbara Ehrenreich
Indeed
I have always lived my life as a pessimist, I have also found myself living a life of surprise and gratitude :)
I adore this man
***** I have a strong desire to become a philosopher after listening to him!
+PsychOnLocko Ahhhh but PsychOnLocko, by assuming that you have to study philosophy by studying it in a dry and academic sense at a university, you almost completely negate all of what Allain is trying to teach you to teach yourself.
However, if you were to respond to this comment without mention of any personal offence you may have felt in response to my criticism, and how that response might justify your negative premonitions regarding my obviously apparent hubris. If you were to instead respond with the reasons as to why you might think I am right and/or wrong, then there may be hope for you yet ;)
I think you're onto something there. But how's about we flesh out the idea that you, nor anyone, needs to study philosophy. I might be inclined to argue that if everyone did study, not it in a dry and stuffy sense, but in a way that championed the importance of original ideas, then a lot more good could be done. In which case we all would look back and realise that philosophy was indeed vital to the furtherance of civilisation. Do you think you agree?
Oh and do you think I was trying to offend you? Because that was exactly what I was trying not to do. You may not believe me, but I'm hoping 'we', as in you and me and every other person consumed by feelings of offence, can drop our petty emotional responses and reflect on how big an impact philosophical thinking could actually have on the world, if thinkers like me and you endorsed it in the right way.
Yeah you're absolutely correct. I cannot but concede that I must seem an unbearably pretentious twat.
But I put it to you that the manliest men have been philosophers. What School of Life proposes is the mainstreaming of Philosophy.
I'm in no doubt that if/when Philosophy became the pass time of everyone, it would absolutely save lives.
To use your examples; doctors, firefighters, nurses, teachers (what about Philosophy teachers Mark?), what if these professionals had an intricate understanding of themselves and of reality? Would that not shield them from the stresses and strains of their everyday lives? From PTSD? From lacking self-awareness or self assuredness? Consider it.
Unless I missed the memo and a 'mark' of a real man consists of lecturing others on what they should be doing with their livelihoods online. Like. A. Boss...
But in all fairness, after reading all my comments, wow, what a load of old tosh. What can I say, I chat a lot of shit. So what do I know?
What is so great about Alain De Button is that he is not a Tony Robbins. That he is a not a motivator. He is a eloquent, brilliant man that collectively inspires us to think about things that don’t feel good. That happens to be in a way that can change our life. He talks without fluff. This is why for the school of life channel he is out parent.
This man's unselfconscious singing Elton John at an podium in an assembly hall is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
This made me feel very optimistic.
I know! And surprisingly, too. You know what, I think he did as he said to do in the talk, and ingeniously prepared us for the worst at the start of it so that we felt very optimistic by the end of it.
That is a BRILLIANT name. Caffa Jake. Sounds like a Little Britain Character. Walliams would probably make it a member of the weight loss program, harrrr!!😋
Indeed I became very pleased with my self after watching this genius talk 👍🏻👏🏻🤣 he is brilliant
Same
Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back.
+TrollCarl He won't lend it to you in the first place ;)
+TrollCarl So the pessimist donated money to you.
Rubbish, pessimists don't have money.
I believe pessimist doesn't want that person back, he doesn't care about money.
@@daniilegle9094 he does have money. But he's so worried about keeping it safe that he cant enjoy it lol
28:40 This part where you sing Elton John with the audience is so beautiful Alain! Thank you so much for this! I love this so much! :)
its Leonard Cohen 'Suzzane' not Elton John i think
Finally there is a philosopher who thinks like me. I don't feel alone anymore.
"To live is to suffer, to survive is to find something worth suffering for"
-Nietzsche
And when Nietzsche talks about worth especially when giving worth to suffering he proves he is not a pessimist. Nietzsche is a nay saying yes man. This talk also has very little to do with pessimistic philosophy but more of a glass half empty or half full type of thing.
It should have been "To survive is to suffer, to live is to find something worth suffering for".
You've missed the point, my friend. Think further on the quote
Now I get it, it is even better the way Nietzsche put it. :D
Subfreak nah you tried to make it more optimistic than it needs to be, it's corny
"Optimism makes us angry as it is the root of expectation which leads to disappointment" ... man, couldn't agree more.
Alai Botton is such remarkable man
10:02 it was at this point when I realized, he's the narrator of all the School of Life videos
A mismash of comedian, preacher and philosopher. Thank you for these!
he has extremely detailed thoughts on life and well being. amazing.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE, Alain!!!! His philosophy on life is truly FANTASTIC!!!
There is an utterly ironic Anthony Robbins ad standing next to Alain de Botton on my screen...
Beautiful. I can't stop rewatching this
You touch on a disheartening truth. People never want to be told anything they do not believe already.
this talk's made me feel a bit at ease. recently surroundings've made me feel inadequate for not being mindlessly cheerful and optimistic.
Alain, THANK YOU!! I always dealt with life by acknowledging my misfortunes. Accepting othera' successes as luck mostly though also ability that I understood not yo have. I laughed so much with this BRILLIANT talk, that at my 70 yrs old I love seeing such a young man giving us all lessons without a spec of srlfimportance, knowing, surely, that you are indeed GREAT. 🤗👌👏👏🤸♂️🤸♂️....😪😥😢🧐
this lecture touches a very fundamental part of me. It is really satisfying.
Pessimism was always normal to myself. It makes you prepared and will give you time to have other back up plans.
Thank you for the talk, truly interesting and ironically funny.
Omg ! I always play that Elton John song when things go wrong. Sad Songs. Never told anyone that till now. Totally blew my mind when he mentioned/played it. Fabulous, thanks
I really appreciate this .
Alain is the best my favourite ever so clever smart witty and very funny 👏🏻👍🏻👏🏻🤣
It is such a pleasure to listen to you ...thank you
This was extremely interesting and strangely uplifting, haha!
+The School of Life :D
I can't believe I missed this channel for 10 years
Wow, I found this talk so interesting. You might find this strange, but as a Muslim, Alain has taught me a lot about my religion, especially his famous TED talk: Atheism 2.0. Islam teaches very similar ideas to what Alain explains in this talk but with a very different angle. For example, Islam teaches that you should always be positive, positive in a very unselfish way for unselfish ideals, like making the world a better place (for everyone). At the same time, Islam teaches that this life is a prison, don't try to get too comfortable. I like Alain, very thoughtful person who continuously puts himself in difficult positions like asking "anyone impotent out there, like me?" in the beginning of his speech, deadly honesty. Lots of love to you Alain (and everyone else) from your religious brother.
Yuck. Rubbish comnent
Thank you for the breath of fresh air... Perhaps De Botton could be known as the singing philosopher... When one is done crying and laughing, singing may be a good approach to what ails. :-)
i honestly feel like things are just going to get a lot worse now after knowing all of this. thanks!
"Better to be in the house of mourning than the house of mirth."
"Better is a dry morsel eaten in quietness than a house full of feasting with strife."
"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."
"It is better to dwell in the corner of a housetop alone, than with a contentious woman in a wide house."
(I hope I quoted these fairly correctly)
This man is great! He just dismantled the meritocracy's myth. Fortune and Misfortune are definitely natural parts of life, we cannot control everything, even the most prodigious societies.
I just absolutely love this channel and its content. Thank you very much team behind +The School of Life
The last 10 minutes has moved me. The religion of comfortableness. The capacity of suffering and the capacity to do great things. We give up too quickly because we are addicted to comfortableness.
And then you moved on to the next video...
I am giving this a thumbs up before I watch because I already know it's gonna be good
I could watch/listen these all day, not to mention reading
I love his lectures. You can tell that his thoughts are going lightining fast and sometimes he can't quite keep up with them lol
RIGHT?!?!!
I listen to school of life all the time and he is probably one in my top 5 favorite inspiring intellectuals of all time, however, I havent been able to make it all the way through to the end of even one of his live videos yet because it's really hard to handle listening to someone constantly/relentlessly saying
uh uh um uh um um uh uh uh
4x - 9x in a single sentence, in every sentence.
A fantastic speaker with an important message
I live in the US and that bit about your friend making fun of those less fortunate rings true of my own family. They are wildly religious and feel that god gives you what you “deserve”. It’s a rather gross way to view the world. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. It is refreshing and the School of Life is wonderful.
This is making me smile! You mean it's okay to be pessimistic? Awesome! I'm right where I need to be.
Dawg....... I love this world. I love learning of and through this world and life. I love my life.
Nice to discover the voice behind all these great videos. I like them so much. Excellent work, so useful for me. Thank you 😊
Effing brilliant, self help books and the prosperity gospel definitely makes me feel more sick with envy and depressed.... not inspired
Since I watched this video I've been optimistic
I deeply appreciate the general point of the talk. However, I think avoiding the use of term pessimism will make it more accessible. The point is 'reduce your expectations towards life' not 'don't have any expectations towards life, and I think classifying if under pessimism does not underscore that.I recently watched an interview of Elon Musk saying that he expected his first business to fail. The fact that he went ahead with his idea, knowing that he'd fail and not sulking at how everything can go wrong is the central idea of what Alain is trying to convey.Good talk nonetheless!
vindication is what this is. recovering optimist here
Thank you Alain, thank you for informing me very clearly that my thoughts does make sense, well founded, and that I'm not a mad failed man.
Thank you for introducing me to Leonard Cohen❤❤
Just a shame we had to listen to Elton John
Attachment to ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, etc. - lead to nowhere. He is so right - when we are "boom times" - we still found all kinds of things to complain about..although I was lucky to be pretty happy during those years. Lower your expectations and things really have so much in life is easier. The optimism thing really does turn out to be useless - but I think you need some of it to "get out of the box" - as in - to go to school, to earn a living, you have to think that way or you'll be so depressed you will never leave your room...then, as time goes on and life keeps knocking you down....you become cynical...angry, etc. - and if you are lucky, you get past a lot of that dominating your thoughts - and you arrive at acceptance that life is what it is. There are no magic solutions. And you feel better when you stop trying so hard to make it something it isn't. I am married to a Stoic and he has been steady throughout all the ups and downs for the past 20 years - he just goes on about making the best of things within catastrophes that happened - yes he was angry, sad, etc. - but he always kept that sense of "just move with the tide" where as I would totally fall apart. We faced horrible illness, job loss, bankruptcy...etc. and we are still here and in many ways "happier" than ever - by happiness I mean acceptance. The Stoic is steady and just plods along despite whatever happens. It's a great type of personality to be married to - some call it grit. So little is in our control - it never was. Another way to think of this is: life owes you nothing. Absolutely nothing. You give to it what you can. Acceptance is refreshing.
You are the best! Such a pleasure to listen to you...
This is live changing information. Thank you Alain de Button! 👍
I have a skull tattoo, for same reason, that it is inevitable for all of us, and none know the moment it comes, so let that inform the present moment with the irreplaceable preciousness it deserves.
21:01 My people have a proverb:" If work is that good all donkeys will have golden pack saddle."
My favourite philosopher!! This was so comforting. Very weird
In my opinion, one of today’s greatest thinkers.
In this world of phony optimism, pessimism is a relief because it dares to be real.
When aren’t we living in troubled times
As Blackadder once put it, "a chat with you Baldrick , and death loses its sting".
hahaha. that was funny
38:31 such a good speech! ❤️
O I enjoyed this. How well put, how disarmingly delivered. Thanks for posting!
Alain de Botton at it again love the talk
8 years ago* "we live in troubled times"
Now* if you only knew how well your philosophy is working..
You certainly cheered me up!
It can only be better than expected!
♥️He’s so humorous 👏😄
Life is too short to waste it chasing happiness
The wealthy people Alain met in the U.S. went from one failure to another before finally succeeding. This is how life works, and a meritocracy provides the best climate for failure ultimately resulting in success. You are better off in a meritocracy than in other economic systems. By the way, the European countries are in large part meritocracies as well.
My brother Jimmy, has his hearth checked at least once a year. I asked him why? "there might be something wrong, so I want to know, what's wrong with that?"
"Have they found a problem so far?"
"No, but if they keep looking they'll find it!"
Makes total sense. Realistic, fantástic.
Faith is the answer to the pain.
I love you, brother.
love this series.
Alain, love you man!!!
Better to earn something through merit than to be handed something because of your skin color. Equality of opportunity is the goal, equality of outcome is impossible. Merit does not equal a guaranty, nothing is ever a sure thing. 'Most improved' was always my favorite trophy...effort means everything.
I wonder how to balance this with optimism. For example, aren't you more likely to perform better and not give up when you have a positive outlook? At the same time, being realistic about your shortcomings and the ways in which you can fail is good, and can help you improve, but at what point can this negatively affect your performance?
There's been a lot of neuroscience work done in the area how not only positive visualization and self talk is effective, but even things like having a confident positive body language can positively effect your mood, creativity, and problem solving capabilities.
Great lecture! It means a lot to me to know things, and to take new things in, and have what I already know affirmed.
There actually is a third way between the Greek view of work as 'slavery' and the modern conception of work as 'fulfillment'. Work can be seen as a necessary and productive component of a functioning society. This is the Libertarian Socialist position, though it inevitably depends on the abolition of the wage system.
excellent lecture. on the dot.
How about design contest of some nice skulls for TSOL shop:)?
i lived my life as an optimist and i autodestruct it, now im an pessimist and i can see reality as it is
This man is a Legend
Of course suffering is part of life that should be obvious to everyone and yes we should work through any suffering we have you basically have to own it and then move on.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. - Ecclesiastics 9:11
This is essentially a synopsis of "The Obstacle is the Way," by Ryan Holiday.
Hey, what do you mean by this comment?
HOly Shit@ This is incredible sermon... I have never heard of anything like this before...
This is what a ‘church’ should be.
He sang? I didn't see that coming
:D rand to increase pessimism
What I loved about this video was the advert for a digital marketing scam, which crucially manipulates hope, that preceded it --- lolz
You must at first believe you can achieve something in order to achieve it.
Nietzsche was the de Botton of his time.
not concerning women! Nietzsche had outdated ideas on women
Totally wrong.
"...misfortune cookies" :D :D Brilliant talk as usual. The singing doesn't quite make it, but my, was that an inspiring talk, explains a lot. Thank you so much for sharing this.
alain is killing it when is he coming to san francisco????
Brilliant just brilliant
"Philosophy makes you sane "
I’m so happy I saw this video multiple times before this pandemic and I totally see it in other people they are a little too hopeful (delusional)!!
Love this guy
I came to the same conclusion some time ago.