Hope in Political Philosophy/Theory

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.