This seminar focuses on understanding the attitude of hope and its role
in political and social life. We will discuss accounts of the kind of
psychological state hope is, how it is different from desire, wishful
thinking, optimism, and courage, when it is justified and when not, the
extent to which it requires evidence, and its relation to political
agency. We will discuss accounts of hope from the history of philosophy,
recent accounts of hope in analytic philosophy, and influential recent
treatments, including Ernst Bloch’s and Jonathan Lear’s. The language of
the seminar will be English, and all the assignments must be written in
English.
- Trainer/in: Darrel Moellendorf