A Hope for Reason
A Hope for Reason

Summary/Abstract: Hope is a common phenomenon in human life. And yet once we try to conceptualize it, we face the problem St. Augustine described while trying to define time: “If no one asks me, I know: if I wish to explain it to one that asketh, I know not.” Nevertheless there have been continuous attempts at explaining the nature of hope. According to the standard account, hope is always a relational phenomenon: a human person hopes for a certain outcome, and to hope for this outcome is to desire it and to believe that its realization is possible, although not inevitable. On this view, hope is considered as a compound attitude.

• Details
• Contents