Cynical About Cynicism

Quoting myself:

The cynic's conundrum is that while a cynic might prefer that others believe an idealistic theory of his cynical mood, his own cynical beliefs should lead him to believe a cynical theory of his cynical mood. That is, cynics should think that rude complainers tend to be losers, rather than altruists.

I don't know, Robin, that sounds a bit too cynical to me.

I had been thinking of Hanson's above-mentioned metacynicism recently when he discussed the signalling that he engaged in. I don't actually have as much trust for people that claim to be Guardians of the Truth as for those who admit to having other motives in which truth may be incidental. I'm more willing to listen to Hopefully Anonymous even as he proclaims that he engages in mythmaking for his own advantage, and one of the things I liked about Der Ego was Stirner proclaiming in the opening that he owes no more duty to Truth than Truth does to him, and elsewhere that you are not reading his book for your own betterment (presumably through enlightenment) but his. I am now reminded of Barack Obama's ingratiating acknowledgment of the differing views of others as a sort of pre-emptive neutralizer of opposing arguments that didn't actually grapple with them head on. I could be granting too much credibility to people who have lowered my guard by being honest about their lack of commitment to honesty.

Cynicism is fundamentally about self-defense from future pain. What is the basic message of a cynic? "You'll be disappointed." The cynic, having themselves been painfully disappointed by life, preempts a repeat of the experience by anticipating it everywhere they can, steering clear of hope in general, and advising others to do the same. Some cynics may seek the weakly compensating satisfaction of vanity by trying to perform their cynicism so as to impress, but that is not the essence of the attitude.

@mitchell

"Cynicism is fundamentally about self-defense from future pain"

I find this confusing. Aren't cynics actually Idealists? That is, their fundamental position is that there is Virtue to be found once the falsity of fame, power, wealth, vanity, and pomp are cast aside? They don't seem to be defending themselves from pain, rather the almost seem to seek it - that's why they wandered homeless like wild dogs (cynic, from cyne, Greek for dog) or at best lived unwashed in barrels?

I am considered a cynical person, but I also understand that some ignoble intentions might be transparent if I am too cynical. So even having that in mind, I still feel the need to be cynical. I feel the need to burst peoples' bubbles when they are overly optimistic about an idea, or that it looks like they didn't put much thought in what they believe. I don't know why I have such an urge to force people to be more rigorous with their belief-forming processes. Maybe it is just a pet peeve of mine.

Cynicism is fundamentally about self-defense from future pain.

I agree with this. In my experience, the highest proportion of cynics was among medics. These people deal with life-or-death situations on everyday basis, and their cynicism seems to be a way of anaesthetising their own mirror neurons, which otherwise would cause them too much pain.

As for the relationship of evolutionary psychology and cynicism, my own experience was quite interesting. The moment I understood evolution at the gut level, the moment I saw life as a purely physical phenomenon, my cynicism towards humanity just disappeared completely. How can one be cynical about rain, wind or gravity?

(It's been a while since that moment, and now cynicism started to surface again, from time to time. Maintaining the True Sight does require effort.)

I forgot to add another observation about medics -- some of the best high-rank medics I've ever met were not cynical at all. They occupied high positions, up to the chief of staff, but it didn't seem to me that they got there via internal politics -- or at least their political ability was visibly overshadowed by their medical skill.

Good call! Scepticism is often conflated with cynicism but there's a crucial difference. Cynics tend always to assume the worst - of people and things - while sceptics try to make as few assumptions as possible. To the extent that the cynic will, all other things being equal, choose to believe the most negative possible interpretation, cynicism is arguably a particular form of bias.

Although I think you're overstating and misapplying your case, Eliezer (like Robin implies, a "cynical" critique of both cynicism and idealism seems to me to yield more fruit than an idealist critique of both), I agree with Richard that cynicism is a poorer epistemological framework than skepticism.

I think it's also worth noting that it's a common play for status to admonish people not to be so cynical, I think because (1) the crowd seems to award higher status to people who perform optimism as a general rule, and (2) there's an element of power alignment, and (if one is powerful) power maintenance to convincing less powerful people not to be cynical about the reasons for power variance in a social group.

Consider the hash that some people make of evolutionary psychology in trying to be cynical - assuming that humans have a subconscious motive to promote their inclusive genetic fitness.

What is "cynical" about that? It is a central organising principle in biology that organisms tend to act in such a way to promote their own inclusive genetic fitness. There are a few caveats - but why would viewing people like that be "cynical"? I do not see anything wrong with promoting your own genetic fitness - rather it seems like a perfectly natural thing to do to me.

Looking at the population explosion, I would say that the world appears to be full of people who are acting in a manner that is highly effective at promoting their own genetic fitness. They are doing something wrong? What makes you think that?

I tend to be at least a little grumpy, but on the whole, and in the long run, I do think humanity is getting better. (See the chart on historical homicide rates in "Freakonomics.")

Tim Tyler:

The cynicism is assuming that people are following a motive which leads them to promote their own genetic fitness.

They're not. This motive isn't explicitly represented anywhere in their brains, for the most part. People usually don't, consciously or subconsciously, worry about whether what they're doing increases their genetic fitness. They follow a variety of emotions - fear and anger, love and friendship and loyalty, hate and curiosity and a host of others. Now, it's quite likely true that those emotions are what they are because, in an ancestral environment, they promoted genetic fitness. But the link is indirect. If some of them no longer promote genetic fitness, that's not going to make them go away. People can still fall in love and enjoy sex even when they consciously know they are infertile or when they decide to use birth control. If there are other things to do in the modern world which would promote genetic fitness even more, those emotions aren't going to magically appear. Guys don't fall in love with sperm banks.

The cynical, and incorrect, part is in assuming that "genetic fitness" is actually a motive of any present-day human.

frelkins - that might have been true of the original Cynical movement in antiquity, but that's not what the word means now, surely. Though perhaps even the common cynic has some trace of that will to live truthfully and that boredom with considerations of life, death, and happiness.

When I wrote my comment yesterday, this post seemed to be an idealist's gambit, designed to attenuate the impact of cynicism by associating it with status-seeking rather than with truth, and I wanted to produce an emphatic reminder of the reality of everything bad in life. Even as I wrote it, I knew I was deviating from cautious empiricism into aphoristic intuition, and was therefore at risk of producing propaganda rather than truth. Today I cannot be bothered trying to assess how true it is, but in the spirit of something-or-other, I thought I would at least note these psychological facts.

Anon, you are arguing for "incorrect", not "cynical". Please consider the difference.

Like it or not, biologists are basically correct in identifying the primary goal of organisms as self-reproduction. That is the nature of the attractor to which all organisms' goal systems are drawn (though see also this essay of mine). Yes, some organisms break, and other organisms find themselves in unfamiliar environments - but if anything can be said to be the goal of organisms, then that is it. The exceptions (like your contraceptives) just prove the rule. Such organisms are acting in a way that is intended to promote their genetic fitness. It is just that some of their assumptions about the environment might be wrong. Alas, contraceptives are not a very good example, because they prevent disease, make sex easier (thus helping to create pair bonds), and have other positive effects.

Organisms tend to act as though their number one motive is self-reproduction. Philosophers may be able to debate whether that motive is "explicitly represented in their brains" - but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, whether philosophers are prepared to call it a duck seems like a side issue.

It is the same as with Deep Blue. Deep Blue acts as though its number one motive is to win games of chess (thus inflating IBM's stock price). That is the single most helpful simple way in which to understand its behaviour. If you actually look at its utility function, it has thousands of elements, not one of which refers to winning games of chess - but so what? It is not "cynical" to treat Deep Blue as trying to win games of chess. That is what it is doing!

See also.