Thinking about Meliorism

For a few years now in my academic work I’ve been thinking about love. bell hooks suggests that there are ‘not very many public discussions of love [beyond romantic/erotic love] in culture’ (2001: pxvii). Like her I am interested in more than romantic or erotic love; that is also non-sexual love between individuals and in ‘living by a love ethic’ (2001: p87), with love embedded in a commitment to social justice. I’ve written about this before for this site ‘Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing’ | ABCtales

Just recently I came across an interesting philosophy; meliorism. Meliorism is variously defined as:

• the belief that humans can change the world
• the belief that the world can be made better by human effort
• the belief that we can improve the world through acts of love, creativity, compassion and kindness.

Further, as Andrew Fiala writes:

Meliorism comes from the Latin root melior, which means “better.” It is opposed to pessimism, which comes from the root pessimus, meaning “worst.” It is also opposed to optimism, which comes from the root optimus, meaning “best.”…. Meliorists hold that this is neither the worst world nor the best. Rather, it is better than it could be: it is better in some places than in others (and for some people than for others) but it can be made even better with human effort and ingenuity.

Meliorism, Fiala continues, is pragmatic, humanistic and linked to secular values. Amongst other things this makes me think of small kindnesses. Those acts that whilst not necessarily requiring a lot of effort from the given can mean much to the receiver. A couple of recent examples from my experience, interestingly both train related:

I’m travelling home from Exeter to Falmouth. A man gets on at Newton Abbott and sits next to me. We get chatting about his trip to Plymouth (he is meeting up with family members & going to a football match) and mine to Exeter. I tell him that I need to change trains at Plymouth & that the time is 'tight'. 'Let's get ready then', he says picking up my heaviest bag. We pull into the station with 3 minutes to spare and run together to my train. 'Thank you, enjoy the match', I say.

He smiles. I smile. We say goodbye. Lovely.

***

I am an early morning train to Plymouth, no time for a drink before I left. I buy a coffee and a croissant from the trolley. I feel better but still…. On the server’s return trip about 30 minutes later I say ‘I think I’ll have another coffee, feeling the need’.

                ‘One of those days is it?’ the server asks.

                ‘Yes’, I smile.

                ‘Well have this one on me’, she smiles back. ‘Enjoy’. 

I’m thinking now of David Morgan who argues that ‘Acquaintances… have significance in their own right. They should not be judged in terms of whether they match up to some other notion of friendship’ and of Kio Stark who reflecting on the importance of interactions with strangers writes ‘When you talk to strangers, you’re making beautiful interruptions into the expected narrative of your daily life – and theirs.’

Just recently, I posted on Facebook:

I’m in Coverack. I got the bus, I sometimes do. It involves a 35 minute walk along a country road at the end. Yesterday I had a case & a back-pack & a shopping bag. A van stopped. It happens a lot when I’m doing this walk. Two guys this time, brothers off to do a job in the village. In just a few minutes we exchanged names, the reasons for our visits and more. I have a bit of a limp at the moment & they expressed concern. We all laughed as one brother teased the other about a personal issue. They dropped me at the door. Kindness matters, it really does.

Do you agree? Have you experienced similar?

References

Fiala, Andrew (2019) ‘Progress and Meliorism: Making Progress in Thinking about Progress’ Journal of the Philosophy of History 1-23 JPH_advance_Fiala.indd

bell hooks (2001) All About Love: new visions New York: Harper Collins

Morgan, David (2009) Acquaintances: The Space Between Intimates And Strangers: The Space Between Intimates and Strangers London: McGraw-Hill Education

Stark, K. (2016) ‘Why you should talk to strangers’ Ted Talk Kio Stark: Why you should talk to strangers : TED.com : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive