It is widely assumed that wishful thinking is wrong, and this assumption gives weight to nihilistic views of the world where there is no room for wishful thinking, since all that can satisfy our childish wishes (for instance salvation) is denied.
But what, precisely, is wrong with wishful thinking? I hold that wishful thinking is wrong only when there is some evidence available against the object of wishful thinking, and when wishful thinking results in the denial of the evidence.
But when there is no evidence against the object of wishful thinking, no reason that can prevent us from believing in it, wishful thinking is not wrong. It does not hurt reason.
Wishful thinking does not make its object more likely to exist. So it can’t be taken into account as objective evidence, but it can be a kind of moral argument for believing in something.
Well, I think that the problem is that wishful thinking is a hindrance to further research… Wishful thinking does not encourage to search for evidence against its object, whereas this evidence may exist…
I personally do not really believe that wishfull thinking is “wrong” — so long as it not excessive (anything in excess is rarely profitable).
Perhaps wishfull thinking becomes more “productive/profitable” if is taken to the next level: Hope. If people had not hoped for a better system of government back in the Pre-American Revolution days, then they would never have gotten the oppertunity to build a better government. Hope is the small, flickering candle (placed inside the windowsill of a warm cabin) that is seen by the near-frozen climbers as they are trying to find a safe place to spend a wintry night on the world’s highest mountain. Hope is the substance that has kept many exhausted doctors from “giving-up” their deathly-ill patients.
Hope is having faith that things will change for the better.
[b]
While I acknowledge that hope and wishfull-thinking are not exactly the same thing, they are incredible inter-related to each other. Hope is wishfull thinking in action. Or, at the very least, Hope is Wishfull-Thinking, taken to the next step.
I should add; however, that wishing for the improbable/impossible all of the time is nothing short of a waste of time. But otherwise, I do not see anything wrong with wishfull thinking. It is only natural, afterall.[/b]
it seems to me, although maybe i am just being naive towards the writings of Nietzsche, that wishful thinking is wrong in the sense that you are not appreciating things for how they stand. IN GM N speaks of amor fati and that one should learn to love ones fate, in doing this he will be able to wholeheartedly say yes to the problem of Eternal recurrence propsed in the gay science, being that if you were told you would live an identical life eternally you would be more than happy to do so. Wishful thinking is hope for something better than what you have, or maybe what you expect, you should be hapy with what you get whatever the out come because ultimately everything that happens has made you who you are and who you will be.
so i guess, deterministically, wishful thinking is pointless. you cant change it so why worry about it? this could be said to be wrong as it would create a negative view of life.
Depends on whether or not you think reality is overated.
Wishful thinking is interpreting things the way you wish them to be regardless of how they really are, so wishful thinking is an obstacle to truth. Perhaps though, humans couldn’t function without at least some wishful thinking involved. Seeing reality with absolute clarity all of the time may be just Too Terrible. I dont know…
