No to Pessimism Life, Diversity, Freedom, and Knowledge, with Optimism

These are dark times. The world and the people living in it are facing serious economic, social, political, and environmental challenges that threaten human well-being and call for enlightened, collective action to combat and resolve. Drawing on the wisdom of the ages, Girol Karacaoglu formulates an ambitious program to address these challenges by calling on individuals to empower themselves by embracing diversity, promoting individual freedom, and practicing critical rationality in the search for the knowledge of how to bring about a social order that not only promotes human flourishing but offers hope for sustaining the planet on which we live. There is no guarantee that such a state of affairs can be brought about, but the author is optimistic that the principles elucidated in this book can serve as guidelines for establishing and maintaining a sustainable future for all. —Prof Michael Bradie, Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Bowling Green State University, USA
This is a fantastic book that ambitiously combines a range of different approaches to paint a positive vision for humanity. Despite its eclecticism, it provides a reassuringly holistic and realistic view of our embeddedness in the word and the emergent features of our societies, ideas and community life. It presents wellbeing and flourishing, stripped of their common instrumental usage and instead seen as an ongoing life process of struggle and joy. —Jonathan Joseph Professor of Politics and International Relations University of Bristol, UK
Are there biopsychosocial forces that encourage the emergence of more just and compassionate social orders? Economist Girol Karacaoglu believes there are, although such emergence is never guaranteed. He argues that societies that put a premium on liberty, pluralism, and universal access to human capabilities are better at generating explanatory knowledge and the artifacts and institutions that embody it. Drawing on philosophers as diverse as Laozi, Spinoza, Popper, and Berlin, Karacaoglu introduces stimulating ideas on every page. This thought-provoking book is a 'must read' for anyone interested in sustainable wellbeing. —Seth Zuihō Segall, Ph.D.; Author of The House We Live In: Virtue, Wisdom, and Pluralism