Realism is often misunderstood as encouraging a passive or fatalist attitude toward progress in human affairs: pessimism as resignation. An examination of the some of the most penetrating thinkers in the pessimistic tradition shows otherwise. A common tradition of pessimism and tragedy reveals a world-view which insists on the imperative of struggle in the face of the odds, and on the dignity and self-respect engendered by such efforts. Excellence and value are contingent, but their pursuit is not. Realism, pessimism and tragedy are not inherently corrosive of activism; they conceive themselves simply as a superior mapping of the territory to be traversed by the activist.

Richard French is Professor and holder of the CN – Paul M. Tellier Professor of Business and Public Policy at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.