Overcoming Cynicism : William James and the Metaphysics of Engagement

Combating the notion of a ‘healthy’ cynicism, Overcoming Cynicism demonstrates that the cynic engages not in genuine critique, but rather in a denial of the possibility of fruitful change. Mustain first uses two historical versions of cynicism—ancient Greek and Victorian—to describe competing currents within the cynical attitude. She brings this historical discussion to bear upon two contemporary sources of cynicism, Christian fundamentalism and scientism, and offers an alternative path which seeks to confront the real problems we encounter in our experiences of relations relations without either explaining those problems away or making them fundamental.