Table Of ContentThe Moral Psychology of Hope
Moral Psychology of the Emotions
SeriesEditor:MarkAlfano,AssociateProfessor,DepartmentofPhilosophy,DelftUni-
versityofTechnology
Howdoouremotionsinfluenceourothermentalstates(perceptions,beliefs,motivations,
intentions) and our behavior? How are they influenced by our other mental states, our
environments, and our cultures? What is the moral value of a particular emotion in a
particularcontext?Thisseriesexploresthecauses,consequences,andvalueoftheemo-
tions from an interdisciplinary perspective. Emotions are diverse, with components at
various levels (biological, neural, psychological, social), so each book in this series is
devoted to a distinct emotion. This focus allows the author and reader to delve into a
specificmentalstate,ratherthantryingtosumupemotionsenmasse.Authorsapproacha
particularemotion from theirown disciplinary angle (e.g., conceptual analysis, feminist
philosophy,criticalracetheory,phenomenology,socialpsychology,personalitypsychol-
ogy,neuroscience)whileconnectingwithotherfields.Insodoing,theybuildamosaicfor
eachemotion,evaluatingbothitsnatureanditsmoralproperties.
TitlesintheSeries
TheMoralPsychologyofForgiveness,editedbyKathrynJ.Norlock
TheMoralPsychologyofPride,editedbyAdamJ.CarterandEmmaC.Gordon
TheMoralPsychologyofSadness,editedbyAnnaGotlib
TheMoralPsychologyofAnger,editedbyMyishaCherryandOwenFlanagan
TheMoralPsychologyofContempt,editedbyMichelleMason
TheMoralPsychologyofCompassion,editedbyJustinCaouetteandCarolynPrice
TheMoralPsychologyofDisgust,editedbyNinaStrohmingerandVictorKumar
TheMoralPsychologyofGratitude,editedbyRobertRobertsandDanielTelech
TheMoralPsychologyofAdmiration,editedbyAlfredArcherandAndréGrahle
TheMoralPsychologyofRegret,editedbyAnnaGotlib
TheMoralPsychologyofHope,editedbyClaudiaBlöserandTitusStahl
The Moral Psychology of Hope
Edited by Claudia Blöser and Titus Stahl
London•NewYork
PublishedbyRowman&LittlefieldInternational,Ltd.
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Copyright©2020byClaudiaBlöserandTitusStahl
Copyrightinindividualchaptersisheldbytherespectivechapterauthors.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany
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withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote
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Contents
1 TheMoralPsychologyofHope:AnIntroduction 1
ClaudiaBlöserandTitusStahl
I:HopeintheHistoryofPhilosophy 13
2 HopeinArchaicandClassicalGreek 15
DouglasCairns
3 HopeinChristianity 37
AnneJeffrey
4 HopeinKant 57
ClaudiaBlöser
5 KierkegaardonHopeasEssentialtoSelfhood 75
RoeFremstedal
6 PragmatistHope 93
SarahM.Stitzlein
II:TheNatureofHope 113
7 EmotionalHope 115
KatieStockdale
8 EpistemologicalAspectsofHope 135
MatthewA.Benton
9 PessimismandthePossibilityofHope 153
SamanthaVice
10 IsHopeaMoralVirtue? 171
NancyE.Snow
vii
viii Contents
11 HopeinContemporaryPsychology 189
MatthewW.Gallagher,JohannM.D’Souza,andAngelaL.
Richardson
12 AZenBuddhistConceptionofHopeinEnlightenment 209
RikaDunlap
III:SocialContextsofHope 227
13 InterpersonalHope 229
AdrienneM.Martin
14 HopeforMaterialProgressintheAgeoftheAnthropocene 249
DarrelMoellendorf
15 PoliticalHopeandCooperativeCommunity 265
TitusStahl
Index 285
AbouttheContributors 291
Chapter One
The Moral Psychology of Hope
An Introduction
Claudia Blöser and Titus Stahl
Drawing on the recent surge of interest in hope in philosophy and moral
psychology, thisvolume collectscontributions outlining the most influential
historicalandcontemporaryphilosophicalandpsychologicalthinkingonthe
role of hope in human life. In particular, it focuses on three areas: Part I
assembles current research on accounts of hope from the history of philoso-
phy;partIIcontainssystematicdiscussionsofthenatureandmoralpsychol-
ogy of hope; and part III focuses on applications of the analysis of hope in
socialandpoliticalphilosophy.
HopehasalwaysbeenofinteresttophilosophersintheWesterntradition,
fromtheancients,whotreateditasanemotionthatcansupportorundermine
virtuous behavior, to medieval Christian philosophers and theologians, ac-
cordingtowhomhopeisoneofthethreefundamentaltheologicalvirtues,to
earlymodernphilosophers,whotriedtointegrateanalysesofhopeinto their
comprehensive treatments of human psychology (for an overview of the
historical significance of this topic, see Blöser and Stahl 2017). However,
modern analytic philosophy’s focus on belief, justification, and knowledge
has long pushed hope to the sidelines of that tradition. Only recently,
prompted by new publications—first and foremost Adrienne Martin’s How
We Hope—and a well-funded research initiative at Cornell University and
the University of Notre Dame, hope has received more systematic attention.
This has also coincided with a resurgence of references to hope in public
discourse. From Barack Obama to the post-crisis movements in Europe,
many political forces base their legitimacy on a claimed capacity to revive
hopein thepublic sphere. Thesedevelopmentshave generated great interest
in hope among researchers and in terms of the topic’s increased visibility in
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