8. In Fact, None of the Seven Old Pessimisms Makes a Lot of Sense

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Preface xi
4. Part One. POVERTY IS ON THE RUN
5. 1. Liberalism Liberated 3
6. 2. It’s the End of the World as They Knew It, and You Should Feel Pretty Good 11
7. 3. Nostalgia and Pessimism Worsen Poverty 17
8. 4. Under Liberalism the Formerly Poor Can Flourish Ethically and Spiritually 24
9. 5. Consider the Possibility That Your Doubts Might Be Mistaken 35
10. 6. Pessimism Has Been since 1800 a Rotten Predictor 43
11. 7. Even about the Environment 50
12. 8. In Fact, None of the Seven Old Pessimisms Makes a Lot of Sense 57
13. 9. Nor Do the Three New Ones 62
14. 10. So to Get Better, the World Had Better Keep Its Ethical Wits about It 68
15. 11. And True Liberalism Celebrates a Life Beyond Wealth 75
16. Part Two. ENRICHMENT DIDN’T COME FOR THE REASONS YOU IMAGINE
17. 12. Liberal Ideas, Not European Horrors or Heroism, Explain the Great Enrichment 83
18. 13. Liberalism Supported Innovism and the Profi t Test 89
19. 14. The Great Enrichment Did Not Come from Resources or Railways or Property Rights 96
20. 15. Nor Thrift or “Capitalism” 102
21. 16. Schooling and Science Were Not the Fairy Dust 107
22. 17. It Wasn’t Imperialism 118
23. 18. Nor Slavery 122
24. 19. Nor Wage Slavery Ended by Unions and Regulation 128
25. Part Three. IT CAME BECAUSE IDEAS, ETHICS, RHETORIC, AND IDEOLOGY CHANGED
26. 20. The Talk and the Deals Changed in Northwestern Europe 135
27. 21. That Is, Ethics and Rhetoric Changed 143
28. 22. “Honest” Shows the Change 149
29. 23. And “Happiness” Itself Changed 155
30. 24. The Change in Valuation Showed in English Plays, Poems, and Novels 161
31. Part Four. THE CAUSES OF THE CAUSES WERE NOT RACIAL OR ANCIENT
32. 25. Happy Accidents Led to the Revaluation 171
33. 26. And Then Old Adam Smith Revealed / The Virtues of the Bourgeois Deal 176
34. Acknowledgments 191
35. Notes 193
36. Index 211