ABSTRACT
Modernization theory, development or applied anthropology, and even so-called dark anthropology all rest on the idea that anthropology has something to contribute to the alleviation of human suffering. This, in itself, is highly optimistic. Contrary, then, to the metaphysical optimism that Eagleton scorns and that most of the rest of us since Voltaire have viewed as a fondness for seeing the harsh world in rosy colors, existential optimism is based on a decision, a choice to act. If feeling is formed by the deeds that one does, the choice to suspend cynicism and act with others enables us to cultivate optimism on the edge of the abyss. At the end of Candide, Voltaire shows Dr. Pangloss again pausing work to discourse at length about why all that has befallen them is for the best.
