The Rational Optimist

Last updated
The Rational Optimist
The Rational Optimist.jpg
How Prosperity Evolves
AuthorMatt Ridley
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarper
Publication date
18 May 2010
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages448

The Rational Optimist is a 2010 popular science book by Matt Ridley, author of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature . The book primarily focuses on the benefits of the innate human tendency to trade goods and services. Ridley argues that this trait, together with the specialization linked to it, is the source of modern human civilization, and that, as people increasingly specialize in their skill sets, we will have increased trade and more prosperity. [1]

Contents

Reception

Bill Gates praised the book for its key ideas on the importance of trade and the excessive pessimism prevalent in our society. Gates challenged the book's stance against international aid, raised questions about the author's expertise in discussing climate change, and suggested that it downplays the potential for global catastrophic risks. [2] Ricardo Salinas Pliego praised the book as a defence of free trade and globalisation. [3] Michael Shermer gave the book positive reviews in Nature [4] and Scientific American [5] before going on to present similar ideas in conference talks, and writing The Moral Arc partly in response. David Papineau praised the book for refuting "doomsayers who insist that everything is going from bad to worse". [6]

George Monbiot criticised the book in his Guardian column. [7] Critics of the book say it fails to address wealth inequality, and other criticisms of globalization. [8] [9] [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Ridley</span> British journalist and businessman

Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley,, is a British science writer, journalist and businessman. He is known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics and has been a regular contributor to The Times newspaper. Ridley was chairman of the UK bank Northern Rock from 2004 to 2007, during which period it experienced the first run on a British bank in 130 years. He resigned, and the bank was bailed out by the UK government; this led to its nationalisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Shermer</span> American science writer (born 1954)

Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The author of over a dozen books, Shermer is known for engaging in debates on pseudoscience and religion in which he emphasizes scientific skepticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Monbiot</span> English writer and political activist (born 1963)

George Joshua Richard Monbiot is a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. He writes a regular column for The Guardian and is the author of a number of books.

<i>Genome</i> (book) 1999 popular science book by Matt Ridley

Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters is a 1999 popular science book by the science writer Matt Ridley, published by Fourth Estate. The chapters are numbered for the pairs of human chromosomes, one pair being the X and Y sex chromosomes, so the numbering goes up to 22 with Chapter X and Y couched between Chapters 7 and 8.

Moral agency is an individual's ability to make moral choices based on some notion of right and wrong and to be held accountable for these actions. A moral agent is "a being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evolutionary ethics</span> Study of evolution on morality or ethics

Evolutionary ethics is a field of inquiry that explores how evolutionary theory might bear on our understanding of ethics or morality. The range of issues investigated by evolutionary ethics is quite broad. Supporters of evolutionary ethics have claimed that it has important implications in the fields of descriptive ethics, normative ethics, and metaethics.

Secular ethics is a branch of moral philosophy in which ethics is based solely on human faculties such as logic, empathy, reason or moral intuition, and not derived from belief in supernatural revelation or guidance—the source of ethics in many religions. Secular ethics refers to any ethical system that does not draw on the supernatural, and includes humanism, secularism and freethinking. A classical example of literature on secular ethics is the Kural text, authored by the ancient Indian philosopher Valluvar.

<i>Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal</i> 1966 book by Ayn Rand

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal is a collection of essays, mostly by the philosopher Ayn Rand, with additional essays by her associates Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, and Robert Hessen. The authors focus on the moral nature of laissez-faire capitalism and private property. They have a very specific definition of capitalism, a system they regard as broader than simply property rights or free enterprise. It was originally published in 1966.

Metaphysical naturalism is a philosophical worldview which holds that there is nothing but natural elements, principles, and relations of the kind studied by the natural sciences. Methodological naturalism is a philosophical basis for science, for which metaphysical naturalism provides only one possible ontological foundation. Broadly, the corresponding theological perspective is religious naturalism or spiritual naturalism. More specifically, metaphysical naturalism rejects the supernatural concepts and explanations that are part of many religions.

<i>Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think</i> Biography and festschrift for biologist Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think is a festschrift of 25 essays written in recognition of the life and work of Richard Dawkins. It was published in 2006, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the publication of The Selfish Gene. A wide range of topics is covered from many fields including evolutionary biology, philosophy, and psychology. Space is also given to writers who are not in full agreement with Dawkins. The book is edited by two of Dawkins' former PhD students, Alan Grafen and Mark Ridley. (ISBN 9780199291168)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul J. Zak</span> American neuroeconomist

Paul J. Zak is an American neuroeconomist.

<i>Why People Believe Weird Things</i> 1997 book by Michael Shermer

Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time is a 1997 book by science writer Michael Shermer. The foreword was written by Stephen Jay Gould.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Haidt</span> American social psychologist

Jonathan David Haidt is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business. His main areas of study are the psychology of morality and moral emotions.

The concept of the evolution of morality refers to the emergence of human moral behavior over the course of human evolution. Morality can be defined as a system of ideas about right and wrong conduct. In everyday life, morality is typically associated with human behavior rather than animal behavior. The emerging fields of evolutionary biology, and in particular evolutionary psychology, have argued that, despite the complexity of human social behaviors, the precursors of human morality can be traced to the behaviors of many other social animals. Sociobiological explanations of human behavior remain controversial. Social scientists have traditionally viewed morality as a construct, and thus as culturally relative, although others such as Sam Harris argue that there is an objective science of morality.

<i>The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature</i>

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature is a popular science book by Matt Ridley exploring the evolutionary psychology of sexual selection. The Red Queen was one of seven books shortlisted for the 1994 Rhône-Poulenc Prize, that was eventually won by Steve Jones' The Language of the Genes. The title is in reference to the Red Queen hypothesis in evolutionary biology.

The science of morality may refer to various forms of ethical naturalism grounding morality in rational, empirical consideration of the natural world. It is sometimes framed as using the scientific approach to determine what is right and wrong, in contrast to the widespread belief that "science has nothing to say on the subject of human values".

<i>The Better Angels of Our Nature</i> 2011 book by Steven Pinker

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined is a 2011 book by Steven Pinker, in which the author argues that violence in the world has declined both in the long run and in the short run and suggests explanations as to why this has occurred. The book uses data simply documenting declining violence across time and geography. This paints a picture of massive declines in the violence of all forms, from war, to improved treatment of children. He highlights the role of nation-state monopolies on force, of commerce, of increased literacy and communication, as well as a rise in a rational problem-solving orientation as possible causes of this decline in violence. He notes that paradoxically, our impression of violence has not tracked this decline, perhaps because of increased communication, and that further decline is not inevitable, but is contingent on forces harnessing our better motivations such as empathy and increases in reason.

<i>The Moral Arc</i> 2015 book by Michael Shermer

The Moral Arc: How Science Leads Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom is a 2015 book by Michael Shermer. Steven Pinker describes the book as a sequel to The Better Angels of Our Nature.

2015 in philosophy

References

  1. "Getting better all the time". The Economist. 13 May 2010.
  2. Bill Gates (30 Nov 2010). "The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves".
  3. Ricardo B. Salinas (9 Dec 2012). "'The Rational Optimist': Review". Huffington Post.
  4. Michael Shermer (20 May 2010). "Science, freedom and trade". Nature. 265 (7296): 294–295. doi: 10.1038/465294a .
  5. Michael Shermer (1 May 2010). "When Ideas Have Sex".
  6. David Papineau (13 June 2010). "The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley". The Observer.
  7. George Monbiot. "Matt Ridley's Rational Optimist is telling the rich what they want to hear". The Guardian.
  8. William Easterly (11 June 2010). "A High-Five for the Invisible Hand". New York Times.
  9. Colvile, Robert (14 June 2010). "The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley: review" . Retrieved 27 July 2018 via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  10. "The Rational Optimist, By Matt RidleyPandora's Seed, By Spencer" . Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 27 July 2018.