kant's philosophy of hope
TRANSCRIPT
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Kant s Philosophy of H ope
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American University Studies
Series V
Philosophy
Vol. 103
PETER LANG
New York · San Francisco · Bern · Baltimore
Frankfurt am Main · Berlin · Wien · Paris
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Curtis H. Peters
Kant s Philosophy of Hope
PETER LANG
New York · San Francisco · Bern · Baltimore
Frankfurt am Main · Berlin · Wien · Paris
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peters, Curtis H.
Kant s philosophy of hope/ C urtis H. Peters.
p.
cm. — (American university studies. Series V, Philosophy; vol.
103)
Includes bibliographical references.
Includes indexes.
1.
Hope. 2. Kant, Immanuel, 1724-18 04— Contributions in philosophy
of hope . I. Title. II. Series.
B2799 .H67P47 1993 193—dc20 90-35439
ISBN 0-8204-1386-0 CIP
ISSN 0739-6392
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of
the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
© Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 1993
All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, offset strictly prohibited.
Printed in the United States of America.
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TO THE MEMORY
of
ALBERT WILLIAM LEVI
a friend who personified the very best in wisdom and virtue, whose
death deprives this book of its most valued reader.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The primary inspiration and assistance for this study were offered by a dis
tinguished philosopher, Albert W illiam Levi. He is deserving of special credit for
his insightfulness and for his helpful critique of my work . Steven S chwarzschild
and Carl Wellman also provided generous and invaluable assistance in improving
the analysis and argum entation. Unfortunately, the world has now lost the further
contributions of Drs. Levi and Schwarzschild, and their presence will be sorely
missed.
Several librarians of Indiana University and of Indiana University Southeast
were helpful in enabling me to obtain books and articles.
I wish to thank Juli Crecelius for her very able work in preparing the manu
script, John Finnegan and Wayne Brown for their assistance on computer matters,
and the editors at Peter Lang for their general assistance in improving this work.
Noel Hutchings, a student assistant, helped with some time-consuming details.
Finally, I express my great gratitude to my wife, Pam Peters, for her patient
encouragement as well as for her very capable typing of earlier drafts and for her
work on the index.
The shortcomings of this work would have been far greater without the kind
assistance of all these people.
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Copyright permissions:
Excerpts reprinted with the permission of Macmillan Publishing Company from ON
HISTORY by Imm anuel Kant and edited by Lewis White Beck. Copyright ©1963 by Macmillan
Publishing Company.
Excerpts from Immanuel Kant, ANTHROPOLOGY FROM A PRAGMATIC POINT OF
VIEW, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff,1974. Reprinted by permission of Kluwer Academic
Publishers.
All
rights reserved.
Excerpts from RELIGIONS W ITHIN THE LIMITS O F REASON A LONE by Immanuel
Kant. Copyright 1934 by Open Court Publishing Company. Copyright © 1960 by Harper and
Brothers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
NOTE ON REFERENCES
xiii
PREFACE xv
CHAPTER 1 INTROD UCTION 1
Ho pe in the W estern Philosop hical and Theo logical Traditions 1
Hope in the Traditions through the E ighteenth
Century 1
Hope in the Traditions of the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries 6
Issues to be Treated in a Theo ry of Ho pe 12
Preliminary Com ments on Ka nt's Theory of Hope 14
Purp ose of this Study 16
Notes 17
CHAPTER 2 MO RALITY AS THE BASIS FOR HOPE
27
Morality and Hope in the Critique of Pure Reason 27
Hope and Happiness
27
Virtue as the Sufficient and Necessary Condition
for the Hope for Happ iness 28
Retributive Justice as the Basis for the Hope
for Happiness
32
The Idea of a Moral World 33
M orality and Hop e in the Ethical W ritings 40
Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals
40
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Critique of Practical Reason
43
Metaphysics of Morals
46
Conclusion 47
Kant's Three Arguments on the Hope for Happiness 47
Commentary 53
Remaining Difficulties 59
Notes 63
CHAPTER 3 HO PE AND RELIGION 75
Hope and the Natu re of K ant's Philosophy of Religion 75
Hope and the First Attempts at Critical Philosophy
of Religion: The
Critique of Pure Reason
and the
Critique
of Practical Reason
78
Hope and the Developed Philosophy of Religion:
Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone 79
Hope and the Highest Good Reaffirmed: the
'Preface' to the First Edition
81
Hope and a Person's Quest for Virtue: Book I
82
The Ideal of Moral Perfection: Book II
87
The Ideal of an Ethical Comm onwealth: Books III and TV . . . . 92
The
Opus Postumum
97
Conclusion 99
The Argum ents for the Ideals of Mo ral Perfection
and an Ethical Commonwealth
99
Commentary and Remaining Difficulties 103
Notes 107
CHAPTER 4 HOPE AND HISTORY: WHAT MAY MANKIND
HOPE?
115
Th e Concept of Man kind 116
Hope and the Philoso phy of History 117
The Ideal Polity 125
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Conclusion 127
Kant's Position: Philosophy of History as an Analogue
to Individual Hope
127
Commentary and Criticism
130
Notes 136
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 141
A General Description of K ant's Views on Hop e 141
An Evaluation of K an t's Position on Hope 148
Notes 166
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 171
INDEX 185
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NOTE ON REFEREN ES
Quotations are from published English translations of Kant's works unless
none are available. I do not always agree with the translations and in those cases
point this out. Interpretations are based upon the German text. In the footnotes the
page reference to the Akademie edition are given in parentheses following the p age
number of the English translation.
The following abbreviated forms are used in footnotes:
CPR
Immanuel Kant,
Critique of Pure Reason,
trans. Norman
Kemp Smith (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1965).
CPrR
Immanuel Kant,
Critique of Practical Reason,
trans.
Lewis White Beck (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1956).
Foundations
Immanuel Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of
Morals,
trans. Lewis White Beck (Indianapolis:
Bobbs-Merrill, 1959).
KGS Immanuel Kant, Kant s Gesam melte S chriften, Akademie
Au sgabe , 28 vols. (Berlin: W alter de Gruyter, 1902- ).
Religion Immanuel Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason
Alone,
trans. Th. Greene and H. G. Hudson (New York:
Harper Row , 1960).
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PREF CE
A person might legitimately wonder whether Kant really did offer a phi-
losophy of
hope.
One of the purposes of this study is to show that it was Kant's
intent to develop such a theory and that his writings do present a completed theory.
His interest in hope and his desire to answer the question, 'What may I hope?' are
relatively easy to document. Our argument that he did complete a philosophy of
hope takes the form first of outlining the issues that a complete theory would have
to address. This is done in chapter 1. Then, in chapters 2 through 5, we show
how Kant's theory speaks to each of these issues in careful and extensive terms
consistent with his critical philosophy as a whole. Indeed, his theory of hope can
be seen as an integral part of his general critical philosophy.
Chapter 1 also introduces the general argument by reviewing some of the
major philosophical and theological perspectives on hope in the Western tradition
to the present. This review is not, however, necessary to the argument of this
book, and the reader could understand K ant's theory without examining this review.
Because Kant developed portions of his philosophy of hope in various parts
of his written works, we have first addressed the features of his theory of hope
which appear in his writings on moral philosophy (chapter 2), then those features
developed in his writings on philosophy of religion (chapter 3) and finally those
presented in his works on political philosophy and philosophy of history (chapter
4).
Chapter summarizes the features and claims of Kant's philosophy of hope.
It also includes a critical assessment of this philosophy as well as responses to
several of his critics.
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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Hope has been a topic of theoretical interest for several prominent Western
philosophers and theologians, and this interest has continued up to the present day.
Most recently, some theologians have developed what is referred to as the theology
of
hope,
and their work
h s
aroused widespread interest.
1
One of the most extensive and profound positions
on
hope that has ever been
developed was created by Immanuel Kant in an age of widespread hopefulness.
Although it has not been generally recognized that Kant had a theory of hope or a
philosophy of hope, this is a shortcoming which the present study is designed to
rectify.
Kant's position on this important topic cut across his moral philosophy, his
philosophy of religion, and his philosophy of history in a way that also provided a
special unity to these diverse areas.
2
In this introductory chapter historical
background is provided through a survey of some of the work which other philos-
ophers and theologians have contributed on the theme of hope. This chapter also
includes a description of the issues which a fully developed theory of hope would
have to address as well as some preliminary remarks on Kant's theory
itself
Hope in the Western Philosophical and Theological Traditions
3
Hope in the Traditions through the ighteenth Century*
Even a brief sampling of representative thinkers reveals that hope has been
described in a wide variety of ways. Some have considered it to be an emotion and
others a rational activity. Some have judged it a virtue but others a weakness or
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2 Kant s Philosophy of Hope
hand icap in mankind. Som e have thought it to be a natural pheno men on and others
a special gift from God.
In the Old and New Testaments hope was understood primarily as reliance
and trust in God to com plete Go d's plan for humanity. Old Testament w riters used
words associated with that concept to mean searching for refuge in God, trusting
confidently in God to fulfill promises of blessing, and waiting patiently on God to
accomplish this.
5
People can and should hope, because God is faithful to the promises
God has made.
The Apostle Paul meant by έ λ π ί ς (hope) waiting patiently, confidently, and
joyfully for the resurrectio n of all believers and for the full adven t of the Kingdom of
God.
6
He emphasized the primary evidence for the Christian's hop e-v iz., Jesus'
resurrection; Go d's activity is itself the source and ground for hope.
7
Luke and Peter
used the term to refer to their expectation of a new life in this world and of
imm ortality in a future realm.
8
Neither Plato nor Aristotle, by contrast, associated έ λ π ί ς with religion, and both
thought that hope could be detrimental. Plato understood it simply to be the
expectation of a future p leasu re. He though t, in fact, that the experience of hop e itself
carries with it a certain d egree of pleasure.
9
But he was chary of hu m ani ty's tendency
to hope. He thought one often ho pes for what will not occur;
10
one of a human's
foolish counselors, he com men ted, is hope easily led astray.
11
In several dialogues
he wrote approvingly, however, of the hope for life after death.
12
Similarly, by
ε λ ιά ς
Aristotle meant the expectation or anticipation of an
appealing future ex perience. He indicated that the human ability to hop e parallels the
capacity to remem ber.
13
He suggested that people are led psychologically to think that
what they hope for is particularly near at hand whereas what they fear is distant or
nonexistent.
14
Aristotle, too, therefore, thought hope can mislead a person.
Philo, Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther all laid great emphasis upon the value
of hope . P eop le's capacity to hope is one of the most important things that distinguish
them from other creatures, according to Philo. On the basis of the Septuagint version
of Genesis
4:26,
he typified Enos (VJ1 ] 8 , a Hebrew word meaning man or human )
as the representative of hope.
15
According to Philo, Eno s received this name because
he placed his hope in God, and he alone is a true man who expects good things and
rests firmly on comfortable [i.e., 'beneficial'] hopes.
16
Philo called ho pe the nearest
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Introduction 3
and dearest possession of the human soul"
17
and the first thing "the creator sowed in
the rich soil of the rational soul."'
8
He characterized hope as a longing for good things
and as that which impels a person to important and worthy deeds; hope, he wrote, is
"the fountainhead of the lives which w e lead."
19
Although hope directed toward such
things as gain, glory, prizes, and happiness was valuable in his eyes since it leads
people to accomplish good things, he maintained that the highest hope is that
exemplified by Eno s~" a hop e and expectation of obtaining good things from the only
bountiful God."
20
"No one," Philo wrote, "should be thought a man at all w ho does
not set his hope on God."
21
Au gustine, too, exalted hope that is directed toward G od. He did not define a
hum an in term s of hop e, but he did think hope is one of the three essential dim ensions
in a godly life—the others being faith and love.
22
He held that Christian hope is
directed toward full bliss in the next life-bliss that will attend being in the presence
of God.
23
It is this hope that enable s a person to endure the sufferings of this life.
24
Since its object is the happiness of a future world, it is unaffected by any ind ication
that life in this world is getting either better or worse.
25
Thom as Aquinas placed a similar importance on religious hope. He called it
a "theological virtue" since it is central to the Christian life and since God is both its
efficient cause and its object.
26
In his view all hope is directed toward happiness, but
religiou s hope is aimed at a supernatu ral happ iness. The ultimate object of religious
hope is the joy of union with God.
27
He distinguished hope from certain related
phenomena on the grounds that its object is good (in contrast to fear), future (as
distinct from joy), difficult (as opposed to desire), and possible (in contrast to
despair).
28
Ho pe itself he characterized as the confident pu rsuit of such an object. He
thought that it can be either appetitive (even animals can have simple hopes) or
cognitive.
29
H op e-re ligi ou s h ope in particular—can lead a person to act in accordance
with virtue and godliness.
30
Luther, too, thought that spiritual hope is of the highest value, but he
emphasized its importance for helping a person to endure patiently the persecution
and tribulation of this life. "To those who believe and have G od 's prom ise," he wrote,
"this life is a wan dering in which they are sustained by the hope of a future and better
life."
31
He defined hop e, in fact, as "spiritual courage."
32
He understood Christian
hope to be directed not simply tow ard heavenly b liss in the sense of pleasu re but more
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4
Kant's Philosophy of Hope
toward the full experience of righteousness and forgiveness in eternity.
33
Hope, he
insisted, is prod uced by God ; it is a gift of mercy.
34
In marked contrast to these religious interpretations of hope, several phi
losophers of the early m odern period, such as Hobbes, Locke, and Hu me, understood
ho pe in more limited, psych ological terms . Hob bes thought that hop e is simply the
com bination of an appetite for a particular object w ith the opinion that the object can
be attained.
35
Lo cke associated hope with a particular kind of pleas ure:
Hope is that pleasure in the mind, which everyone finds in
himself,
upon the thought of a probably future enjoyment of a thing
which is apt to delight him.
36
And Hume described it as one of the passions which arises directly from the expe
rience of pain or pleasure.
37
As the explanation for this emotion, he proposed the
following:
The mind by an original instinct tends to unite itself with the
good, and to avoid the evil, tho' they be conceiv'd merely in idea, and
be consider'd as to exist in any future time.
38
He described hope as the feeling which arises when a person thinks about any pro
spective event that appea rs pleasureful and that is uncertain but not im possible.
39
Desca rtes and Spino za also described hop e in naturalistic, psychological term s,
but Spinoza viewed it as a mo re comp lex phenom enon. Desca rtes held that hope is
aroused when a desire for either the acquisition of
a
good or the remo val of
an
evil is
accompanied by the probability that this can be accomplished.
40
"Hop e," Spinoza
wrote, "is nothing but unsteady joy [i.e., joy mixed with sorrow] arising from the
image of a future or past thing about whose issues we are in doubt."
41
It is always
mixed to som e extent w ith fear—fear that w hat is hoped for will not com e to
pass.
But
since "all things hav e their necessary cause s, and m ust necessarily happ en as they do
happen,"
42
hope is a sign of ignorance and wrong opinion.
43
The person wh o lives by
reason eschews h ope bec ause he or she seeks to live by knowledge and will abide no
doubt.
Althoug h L eibniz devo ted virtually no attention specifically to the concept of
hop e and nev er attempted to define it, he did in one dialogue ind icate its impo rtance,
and he associated it closely with theodicy. He depicted Polidore, a learned man, as
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Introduction
5
indifferent about life because he could see the imperfection in people and the falsity
of the hope for immortality. But Theophile successfully convinced him that this
world, its apparent evil and shortcomings notwithstanding, must be the best of all
wo rlds. As a result Polidore wa s freed from his indifference and despair and becam e
eager to engag e in purposeful activities.
44
Through this dialogue Leibniz suggested
that a perso n w ho desp airs over the evil in this world loses hope as well as the will to
engage in meaningful p ursuits. Without the confidence that everything in this world
is properly ordered by a benev olent G od, there is no reason for a person to wo rk for
good things now or to expect th em in a future life.
In the eighteenth century there were a number of thinkers who, although they
did not offer analyses of the nature of hope, did present elaborate descriptions of the
goals and foundations for the hope for man kin d's developm ent in this world. The
Abbe de Saint Pierre, Anne Robert Turgot, Gotthold Lessing, and Antoine-Nicolas
de Condorcet all proposed optimistic views of humanity's future.
45
Saint-Pierre
proposed several specific plans for reform in government, economics, finance, and
education (the most important being his suggestion that a union of states be formed
in which war would no longer be used to settle disputes), but underlying those
proposals was his view that humanity is making progress in knowledge and govern
ment. He held that the development of mankind pa rallels that of the individual and
that hum anity is only now beginn ing to move beyond its infancy in the use of reason.
In his view the biggest obstacles to progress are wars, superstition, and jealousy
among the leaders of nations.
46
Turgot supported his optimism with an analysis of mankind's peculiar talents.
He held that hum an ability to learn from new experience s coupled w ith the capacity
to transmit knowledge to succeeding generations through language virtually insure
future progress.
47
Less ing proclaimed that hum anity will assuredly progress. M ankind will ad
vance particularly in virtue to the point where people will do what is right merely
becau se it is right. Lessing thou ght that a per son 's reason, educability, and potential
autonomy make this a certainty.
48
He wrote, "N o It will com e it will assuredly
com e the time of perfecting, when m en .. .will do what is right becau se it
is
right."
49
De Condorcet's most important work,
Sketch for a Historical Picture of the
Progress of the Human Mind, appeared in 1794~just one year after Kant's Religion
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6
Kant's Philosophy of Hope
within the Limits of Reason Alone
(the central work for his views on hope) was
published. De Cond orcet indicated what his particular "hopes" were for human
development:
Our hopes for the future condition of the human race can be
subsumed under three important heads: the abolition of inequality
between nations , the progress of equality within each nation, and the true
perfection of mankind.
50
D e Condo rcet did not think of these goals as mere dreams or wishes; he fully expected
that people would attain them since history reveals how far we have already pro
gressed and since hum an rationality m akes further advancem ent a virtual certainty.
51
D e Condorcet tho ught of ho pe as a confident, rational expectation that is based upon
our experience of the past and our understanding of humanity and the world. It looks
forward to goals which mankind will attain within history.
Hope in the Traditions of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
"Hope" has received attention in the works of many figures o ver the past two
cen turies. Th e selection of peop le wh o are referred to in this section constitutes only
a sam pling, but it does includ e key figures and diverse view points.
Neither Hegel nor Marx described his system in terms of hope, and both crit
icized C hristian ho pe, but they did themselves attempt to show how various forms of
developm ent will occur. Their systems embodied a degree of optimism . According
to Hegel, the dynamic of dialectic allows the contradictions and inadequacies found
in any particular "moment" or stage in the development of consciousness to be
overcome (aufgehoben) through negation thereby making a new , more comprehensive
stage possible. Dialectic enables developmen t and progress to occur. Bu t although
there is a strain of hopefulness which runs throughout h is system, Heg el did severely
criticize one particular type of ho pe -v iz., Christian hope. He considered it to be one
of the forms of the "unhappy consciousn ess." This particular "mom ent" in the
developm ent of consciousness is deeply bifurcated. Although it is a part of the
changeab le, contingent world, yet it focuses upon a supposedly imm utable realm, and
consequently it is divided w ithin itself. This bifurcation can never be overcom e, so
the one wh o hopes cannot find satisfaction. The consciousness remains opposed to
itself and is, therefore, unhappy.
52
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Introduction
7
Marx proposed that dialectical interactions in the economic sphere together
with consequent social conflicts move mankind toward new economic/social
systems—and eventually to a society without class distinctions. An a dequate
understan ding of the dynam ics of history could support this hop e for the future. But,
like Hege l, he endeavored to make his system rigorous and scientific—with no p lace
for dreams of fanciful projections. Thus he, too, was critical of religious hope. Such
hope reveals peo ple's real distress and seeks
to
relieve it, but it presents m ere illusions
about another world. A realistic, scientific approach to human prob lem s, he though t,
require s that the false hope of religion be destroyed: "The abolition of religion a s the
illusory happin ess of the peo ple is required for their real happiness."
53
Several thinkers have grounded hop e in the advances of modern science. Julian
Huxley h as argued that through evolution the biological world has progressed to the
point that one of its products, humanity, can now consciously study and direct this
evolutionary pro cess. "Our destiny," he claimed enthusiastically, "is to be the agent
of the evolutionary process on this planet, the instrument for realizing new pos
sibilities for its future."
54
H e even called for a new religion based on science and
hum anism to bring hum anity to the full realization of its role as evolutionary agent.
55
He view ed the possibilities for further evolutionary p rogress to be virtually unlimited
and therefore looked to the future witfi great hop e.
Peirce argued that hope is actually a necessary prerequisite for the development
of science. Rational inquiry, he thought, requires the prior assumption that the hum an
com mu nity w ill m ove toward success in its intellectual pursuits.
56
He referred t o this
postulation as the "hope in the unlimited continuance of intellectual activity" and
described it as one of the three "sentiments" which are "indispensable requirements
of logic."
57
In calling hop e a "sentiment," he m eant that it is a desire or expectation
that does not have the rational support to be either belief or knowledge.
58
Bu t the
hope for intellectual develo pm ent, although not based upon rational evidence , is the
prerequisite for the use of reason in a scientific com m unity. Th is hope is as m uch die
foundation for knowledge and science as religious hope might be for faith and
religion.
Like P eirce, Mill though t that hope could be beneficial, but he emp hasized its
value for helping the individual to improve himself or herself. He associated hope
with the imagin ation, and he thoug ht that me only way to ju dg e the merit of ideas
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Kant's Philosophy of Hope
which a person develops in his or her imagination (for example, thoughts about an
afterlife) is by their utility.
59
Although in one essay he wrote that he thought a person
could live the richest and b est of lives without hope,
60
in a later writing h e argued tha t
"the beneficial effect of such hope is far from trifling."
61
It allays the despondence
that sets in when one sees,
.. .the exertions and sacrifices of life culminating in the formation of a
wise and noble mind, only to disappear from the world when the time
has just arrived at which the world seems about to begin reaping the
benefit of it. . . .The gain obtained in the increased inducement to
cultivate the improvement of character up to the end of life is obvious
without being specified.
62
Although their view s differ in important respects, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and
M arcel have described ho pe as an important dimension of being
human.
In two works
which Kierkegaard published under pseudonyms (Either/Or, "edited by Victor Ere-
mita," and
Repe tition
"by Constantine Con stantius"), he seemed to hold a low opinion
of hope . The young aesthete of
Either/Or,
Part I, decried hope as a "faithless
shipmaster" because it dissipates one's attention and thereby keeps a person from
inventiveness and the artistic life-both of which are said to require disciplined
attention.
63
Similarly, in
Repetition
hope is labeled "a charming maid that slips
through the fingers" and "an alluring fruit."
64
It is much better to live fully in the
present than to waste on e's life on daydream s. But Kierkegaard distinguished genuine
religious (Christian) hope from this idle dreaming . The truly religious person does
not simply live in or toward the future. In fact, this pe rso n's ho pe can only arise after
all expectations and dreams for a better future are completely dashed and discarded.
Christian hop e is "hope against hope."
65
It is hope in the eternal and develops only
after a person realizes fully that he or she is finite and will die; it grows out of the
deep anxiety that Kierkegaard described so fully.
66
In hope one relates expectantly
to the possibility of the good—but in the eternal rather than the future, the infinite
rather than the finite.
67
Heidegger emphasized that what is important w ith respect to hope is not to be
found in its object. It is, rather, in what happen s to a person in the act of hoping :
[Hope's] character as a mood lies primarily in hoping as
hoping
for something for oneself (Fiir-sich-erhoffen). He who hopes takes
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Introduction
9
himself w ith him into his hop e, as it were, and brings himself up against
what he hopes for.
68
Hope is one of the existential dimensions of human life which reveals our basic
temporality.
M arcel laid stress on the great value of hop e. He distinguished h ope from
particular wishes, desires, or dream s. He understood it to be , rather, a fundamental
metaphysical perspective:
Hope consists in asserting that there is at the heart of being,
beyond all data, beyond all inventories and calculations, a mysterious
principle which is in connivance with me, which cannot but will that
wh ich I will, if wh at I will deserv es to be willed and is , in fact, w illed by
the whole of my being.
69
M arcel thought m at hope is a basic openn ess to "being" and to its good future. It is
not directed toward particular finite objects or goals, and it is not a shallow
optimism.
70
It is, we m ight say, a basic faith throu gh w hich a person rejects the
temp tation to despair and hold s to the conviction that reality is good.
71
From m, too, described ho pe as one of
the
intrinsic elem ents of the structure of
life (the others being faith an d fortitude). W ithout hope a person begins to die.
72
Ho pe, he wrote, stands between passive w aiting and un realistic activism:
It is like the crouched tiger, which will jump only when the
mo me nt for jum ping has com e. Neither tired reformism nor
pseud o-radical adven turism is an expression of ho pe . T o hope means to
be ready at every moment for mat which is not yet born, and yet not
bec om e desp erate if there is no birth in our lifetime.
73
He distinguished hope from optimism on the grounds that the optimist is not really
engaged in the issues mat face mank ind. But the one who hopes has "faith in m an 's
capacity to extricate himself from what seems the fatal w eb of circum stances that he
has created."
74
The one who hop es takes the critical problem s that confront hum anity
with utmost seriousness and works zealously, rationally, and realistically for their
solution within history.
75
Ho pe is a state of being open and com mitted to life and
growth.
76
On e might expect that other psychologists w ould hav e offered analyses of hope ,
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10
Kant's Philosophy of Hope
but they have genera lly given it little attention. Freud, Jung , and Skinne r have
disregarded the phenom enon almost entirely. How ever, one figure, Ezra Stotland, has
attempted to develop a comp lete psychological theory governing ho pe. His proposal
differs markedly from F rom m 's humanistic position. Stotland defined hope rather
rigidly as "expectation of attaining a goal" and then, using a behavioristic model, he
considered its nature and effectiveness as a motive.
77
On the basis of his analysis of
a considerable amou nt of psychological research, he determined that increased impor
tance of the goal and increased expectation of goal attainmen t leads to greate r though t
and activity with regard to attaining the goal.
78
It is important to note that Sto tland's
methods allow one to ascribe hope to many animals other than humans.
Hermann C ohen and Martin Buber are among those who w rote of hope in terms
of m ank ind's developm ent toward a better future. Both built upon concepts and ideals
from th e Old Testam ent. According to Cohen, a Kant scholar who se views were very
much influenced by K an t's w ritings, hope has reached its highest developm ent in the
monotheism and advanced ethic of Judaism, for this hope is neither egoistic nor
hedo nistic. It is, rather, a com mitm ent to the Messianic ideal of fulfillment and
salvation for all mankind within history.
79
Messianic hope is directed toward a
thoroughly ethical, human itarian ideal:
The Messianic idea offers man the consolation, confidence, and
guarantee that not m erely the chosen p eople but all nations w ill, at some
future time, exist in harmo ny, as nature does today.
80
This hop e is grounded upon the "idea" of God
81
(as a practical postula te in the Kantian
sense).
Coh en adm itted that there is a place in religion for a "hope" for life beyon d
death, but he considered it to be of secondary im portance, and he rejected traditional
notions of imm ortality. Life beyond death is really one of the "secrets of God," he
thought, and not at all central to faith the way messianic hope is .
82
Buber looked to the Old Testament prophets as the great advocates of hope . He
described their hop e as two-d imen sional: hope for the introduction of full jus tice in
human relationships and hop e for G od 's establishment of the full Kingd om of God on
earth. On these two dimensions, Buber wrote:
I believe in both in one. Only in the building of the foundation of
the former I myself take a hand, but the latter may already be there in all
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Introduction
11
stillness when I awake some morning, or its storm may tear me from
sleep. And bo th belong together, the "turning" and the "salvation," both
belong together, God kn ow s how, I do not need to know it. That I call
hope.
83
Bub er defined hope as "an outlook for a better hour" and thought that it develops in
its most potent forms in those periods of special stress when "the personal need of
each [individual] reveals the great need of m an."
84
Bub er though t that the Naz i era
and the years w hen the "cold
war
was at its height were such periods.
85
Bu ber 's hope
for mankind was in a completely just community in which people would live in full
cooperation and mutual respect. He pointed to the "Kvuza" or "Village Com mu ne"
of modern Israel as the place wh ere this is best exemplified at present. There wishful
thinking has been destroyed by h arsh realities, but the openness of people to strive for
an ever mo re improved and responsive socialism creates "in its stead a greater hope
which is no longer emotionalism but sheer works."
86
In order to help hum anity as a
wh ole to work toward full com mu nity, he urged the powerful peop les of the world to
move away from ideology to its very opposite'-to a "Civilization of Dialogue" of
which openness, cooperation, and respect would be the marks.
87
Ernst Bloch, a Marxist, was also primarily interested in the development of
ma nkind. In his view it is hope itself which leads a person to strive to overcom e
alienation and to create a better future. A hum an is a being w ith a Utopian in stinc t~a
tendency to dream d reams, and therefore a person can reach beyond him self or herself
to create that which is som ehow better. In his major wo rk, Das Prinzip Hoffnung,
Bloch analyzed several forms of consc iousness which em body hopefulness—from
seemingly trivial "little daydream s" to profound ultimate ideals, and he showed how
all of them illustrate the huma n drive to create the new and to attain fulfillment.
88
Hop e is not in vain, he argued, for the future is truly open. Everything is becom ing
and includes its future possibilities.
89
He was concerned that the mo dern human
underv alues hope and thereby stifles the primary impetus for progress. Bloch has,
therefore, issued a call to people to live in hope. "The imp ortant thing is to learn the
art of hoping," he announced at the outset of D a i
Prinzip Hoffnung.
90
Through hope
one can realize his or her potentiality and create a better world.
91
Jürgen M oltman n, wh o has been an impo rtant figure in the "theology of hope "
m ovem ent, has offered a reinterpretation of Christian e schatology in the light of som e
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12
Kant's Philosophy of Hope
of Ernst Bloc h's view s. M oltmann contended that primitive Christianity was thor
oughly apocalyptic and eschatalogical, and he sought to help the Church today to
reclaim a sense of urgency and hope. Christian hope yearns for the fullness of
Chris t's resurrection—for the time when the decisively new will break into the present.
It is not unrealistic, he argued, for it provides the only way to take seriously the
possibilities of the present.
92
Th e future is included in the reality of God , and the
Christ-event
is
an anticipa tion of the full expe rience of God that awa its the Christian.
93
M oltmann pro posed that the world be viewed as pregnant with possibility for whole
ness and full life. Accord ingly , he has been an advo cate of political and social
chang e, but he has not reduced hope to the striving for such changes in this w orld.
94
Issues to be Treated in a Theory of ope
Th e preceding sketch reveals a num ber of questions which are associated with
the concept of hop e. Th e various interpretations of the range of phenom ena w hich
have been referred to under the word "hope" deal with one or more of the following
questions: (1) W hat is the basic nature of hope? (2) W hat are the preconditions for
hope ? (3) W hat justifies hop e? (4) W hat is the content or object of hop e? (5) What
is the function or purpose of hope? (6) W hat is the identity of the one who hop es?
These emerge as the questions which it is important for a developed theory of hope
to answer.
1.
'What is the basic nature of
hope?' The re has been an obviou s divergence
of opinion on hop e's gen eral character. It has been described, for exam ple, as a
feeling, as a rational expectation, as a supernatural virtue, and as a form of
imagination. The interpretations differ so widely that this question em erges as one
of the most im portant to be addressed in a tiieory of hope.
One of the most im portant aspects of this question concerns die degre e to which
hope is rational. Plato, Aristotle, de Con dorcet, and Peirce, for examp le, associated
hope far mo re closely with reason than did such thinkers as Hume, Spino za, Mill, or
Kierkegaard. Th e degree to which hope is or is not rational affects the answers to
other questions regarding hope--e.g., 'What justifies hope?'
2.
'
Wh at are the preconditions for hopeT
The type of hope of which Luther
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Introduction
13
among others wrote required faith as a prerequisite. For Hobbes hope can only arise
if
a
person feels an attraction for something. Leibniz implied that hope presupposes
the adoption of a theodicy. There is an important distinction which is relevant to the
question of hope's preconditions—
viz.,
between the capability to hope and the right
to the same. Some conditions might have to be fulfilled before a person is able to
hope. For
example,
a
person might
be
incapable of holding religious hope without a
prior experience of faith. But preconditions might also be required before a person
is entitled to hope. Thus it might be suggested that a person must show love before
he or she has the right to hope for eternal
bliss.
A theory of hope should show what,
if any, preconditions there are for hope.
3. 'What justifies hopeT
The question must first be asked whether hope can
ever be justified. If hope is associated with error, as Spinoza, for example, claimed,
or if it raises a person's expectations unrealistically, then hope might be something
to guard against.
If hope is at least partly rational, then the adequacy of specific reasons and
evidence would be relevant to its possible justification in particular cases. This raises
further questions about what would constitute adequate reasons and evidence as well
as whether a person must be satisfied with slender rational support and consequent
low probability in his or her hope. Special difficulties are raised by the use of
revelation to justify some types of hope. It must then be asked whether revelation is
a type of evidence which must be judged and evaluated on the same bases as other
evidence or whether it
is
somehow above questioning—and
perhaps
even above reason
so that it calls upon a person for a direct response of commitment.
4.
'
What is the content or ob ject of hopeT
Another
issue
of crucial importance
concerns hope's content or object. For Plato and Hume hope was always aimed
toward pleasure and for Aquinas toward happiness, but Luther specifically mentioned
righteousness as hope's end and de Condorcet equality. Mill emphasized the hope for
personal life after death. Cohen, Buber, and Bloch were among those who wrote of
hope as directed toward a better life in this world for all people. For Marcel hope has
no object at all but is simply openness toward the future. The nature of hope's content
or object is an important issue to be addressed in a theory of hope.
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14
Kant's Philosophy of Hope
5. 'What is the function or purpose of hopeV
Does hope serve a vital purpose
for peop le that is not accomplished by anything else? Ho bbes, Lo cke , and Spinoza
were am ong those wh o did not think it to be particularly important. Bu t Au gustine
and Luther exalted hope on the grounds that it helps a person to endure suffering.
Philo, Fromm , and Bloch were among those wh o thought that hope arouses a person
to perform worthy
deeds.
For A ristotle hope w as the counterpart to memory—it opens
the future for hum anity. And Heideg ger wrote that hope brings out an aspect of
human temporality by transporting people into the future. Some thinkers,
e.g.
Mill,
have attempted to justify hope on the basis of the purpose it can fulfill for m ankind.
The question of hope's purpose or function is related to fundamental issues
regarding the nature of hum anity. If a hum an is more than a com plex org anism, if a
person is, for example, a creature whose ultimate end is oneness with God or whose
future is open to his or her own shaping and molding, then perhaps hope can be the
key to hum an fulfillment. If, by contrast, a perso n is a creatu re whose projections and
desires are as likely to bring failure and grief as success, then hope has little or no
purpose.
6.
'What is the identity of the one who hopesT
In many cases the writers
mentioned above seem ed to think of the individual as the subject of hope. A person ,
they thought, hopes for his or her own eternal bliss, his or her own pleasureful
experienc es, and the like. But som e of the writers,
e.g.
de Co ndorcet, Peirce, Cohen,
Bub er, and Bloch, were more concerned about the developm ent of man kind. For
them the subject of hop e is the hum an race. In several Old Testam ent passages on
hop e, the subject is not so much an individual as it is Go d's peop le.
A fully developed theory of hope should deal with all of these issues-with
ho pe 's basic n ature, its preconditions, its justifications, its content, its function or
purpose, and its subject. In Ch apter 5, we shall see that Kant offered a full theo ry of
hop e in which he specified positions on each of these points.
Preliminary Com ments on Kant s Theory of Hop e
It is seldom realized just how important Kant considered the topic of hope to
be. He referred to its significance several times throug h a long portion of his
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Introduction 15
philosophical career, and he treated it and related themes repeatedly.
In a famous passage from the
Critique of Pure Reason
(1781) he revealed his
interest in the topic:
All of the interests of m y reason, speculative as well as practical,
com bine in the following questions:
1.
What can I know?
2.
W hat ought I do?
3. W hat may I hope?
95
In that work he included a brief answer to the third question.
96
In the years which follow ed, Kant gave attention to various aspects of the topic
in "Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan P oint of View " (1784), "What
is Enlightenment?" (1784),
Critique ofPractical Reason (1788), Critique of Judgment
(1790),
and "On the Failure of All Attempted Theo dicies" (1791).
97
His most important work on hope was Religion within the Limits of Reason
Alone
(179 3). In a letter to C. F. Stäudlin, which accom panied a copy of the then
newly published work, he indicated the close relationship which he saw between the
book and the topic of hope:
The plan I prescribed for myself a long time ago calls for an
examination of the field of pure philosophy with a view to solving three
problem s: (1) W hat can I know ? (metaphysics). (2) What ought I to do?
(moral philosoph y). (3) W hat may I hope? (philosophy of religion). A
fourth question ough t to follow, finally: Wh at is man? (anthropology, a
subject on which I have lectured for over twenty years). W ith the
enclosed work, Religion within the Limits [ofReason Alone], I have tried
to comp lete the third part of my plan.
98
Th is book did not mark the end of Kan t's treatment of the topic. He dealt with
aspects of it again in "Perpetual Peace" (1795), Metaphysics of Morals (1797), and
The Strife of Faculties
(1798).
99
The re are certain aspects of Ka nt's philosophy as a whole which had an impor
tant impact upon his theory of hope. For exam ple, in his critical system Kant did not
treat religion in any traditional sense. The results of the
Critique of Pure Reason
led
him to speak of God as an
a priori
"Idea" of practical reason rather than as objective
reality that can be known by theoretical reason. The primacy of ethics over religion
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16 Kant's Philosophy of Hope
required that piety be defined in terms of morality rather than of worship or of some
other spiritual activity. As we shall see, Kant developed his theory of hope in ways
that were consistent with these views.
A second example of how Kant's general philosophy impacted his theory of
hope can be seen in the effect that his general a priori methodology had upon his
theory of hope. Kant relied on pure reason, rather than on either revelation or
empirical evidence, for example, as the basis for many general truths. He also
presented hope's objects or ideals as a priori "Ideas." As a consequence, his
justification of hope is quite unlike any of those found in the views previously
mentioned.
A third example is brought out in Kant's philosophical anthropology. He
distinguished strongly between the human as an individual and as a species ( Gat-
tung ).
m
This distinction recurs frequently in Kant's writings and is crucial for his
philosophy of religion and philosophy of history.
101
As an individual or person, a
human is both a physiological creature driven by desires and a rational being who is
responsible for developing his or her own knowledge and virtue. But human physio
logical and rational traits are such that certain of one's objectives can be attained only
by the species. Kant's theory of hope is largely individualistic in nature, but in
Chapter 4 we shall see that in his philosophy of history he presented a social analogue
to that
theory.
There it is mankind rather than the individual that is the subject.
urpose of this Study
The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to offer an analysis and interpretation
of Kant's views on hope and 2) to provide a critical evaluation of the same.
A careful examination of the full range of Kant's views on hope is lacking in
the literature. There is no work specifically devoted to the study of that theme in his
philosophy. The topic is hardly touched upon in the journals. Although Kant
associated hope closely with religion, such standard works on his philosophy of
religion as those by W ebb and England leave it virtually unmentioned.
102
Much has
been written, of course, about the summum bonum, and several writers have exam
ined Kant's views on the prospects of humanity's further historical development, but,
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Introduction 17
although the writings on these topics have often been very beneficial, they have
generally provided interpretations that have not taken into consideration Kant's
broader views on hope.
Goldmann has offered a more extensive interpretation, but,
although his views are interesting, he has distorted Kant's position.
103
A more helpful
discussion of the topic is in a work by Despland, but his primary concern was not in
the topic of hope.
104
We shall attempt to show that Kant's philosophy of hope is an interesting and
well-developed theory.
And it
is
noteworthy that
his
views
are
not merely
a
variation
of "Enlightenment optimism." Although he wrote of reason, science, human potential,
and history in ways that are reminiscent of Turgot, de Condorcet, Lessing, or Voltaire,
the differences from these and other 18th-century thinkers are remarkable and put his
views into the new form of a "critical theory." His philosophy of hope is unique and
must be judged on its own merits.
NOTES
'The m ost prominent of the contemporary theologians dealing with hope have been Jürgen
Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Johannes B. Metz.
The "theology of hope" has evoked widespread interest. Theological symposia on the topic
have been held at Chicago, Santa Barbara, and New York.
Dialogue
entitled its entire volume VII (1968) The Fu ture of Mankind" and included several
articles on the theology of hope in it. The Lutheran Quarterly, vol. XXI, no. 1 (Feb., 1969) and
Cross Currents, vol. XVIII, no. 3 (summ er, 1968) were completely devoted to the topic. The
Cross
Currents issue has been published in book form under the title, The Future of Hope, ed. Walter H .
Capps (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970). For an introduction to the theology of hope movement,
c/. Walter H. Capps, "Mapping the Hope Movement," The Future of Hope, pp . 1-49. Capps has
further developed his overview in W alter H. Capps,
Tim e Invades the Cathedral; Tensions in the
School of Hope (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972).
^To be sure, Kant did consider hope in works which are not normally associated with the
three areas of his philosophy listed. For exam ple, he dealt with the topic rather extensively in the
Critique
of Pure Reason.
But since this treatment was included in a section on moral philosophy,
it will be considered in Chapter
2.
A portion of the Critique of Judgment deals with philosophy of
history, so it is considered in Chapter 4.
3
In this section the views of only a sample of significant philosophers and theologians are
presented. Special attention is paid to those figures whose importance for the history of thought is
most widely acknowledged and who m ade significant contributions on the topic of hope. The
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18
Kant s Philosophy of Ho pe
sample does reveal the diversity of the views that have been developed as well as the primary
themes and problems that arise in connection with hope.
The traditions are divided at the end of the eighteenth century because Kant developed his
theory near the close of that century.
'Severa l Hebrew words we associated with hope —the most important of which are iTD 3 ,
Π Ο Γ Ο Γ Ρ , Π 1p , and~n\u . I n the Septuagint these and a few other words were occasionally translated
by έ λ π ί ς and έ λ π ί ζ ε ι ν , but none was translated exclusively that way. riLO emphasizes trust or
reliance, and it often connotes a condition in which a person feels at ease or secure. Cf. Psalms 22:5,
26:1,
37:3, Jeremiah 17:7, and Isaiah 32:9-10. Π Ό Π means searching for refuge or yearning for
security.
Cf.
Psalms 2:12, 25:20, 71:1,141 :8, and Isaiah
30:2.
The primary meaning of ^Π > with
3 is to wait expectantly for something or someone. Cf. Isaiah 42:4, Ezekiel 13:6, Psalms 33 :18 ,22 ,
and 119:43, 74. Likewise, Π If
7
means to wait or look eagerly for something or someone. Cf.
Ge nesis 49 :18,Isa iah5 9:ll,and Jerem iah8 :15,1 3:16 ,6:19 . ~)3\U sometimes means to wait or yearn
for. Cf. Psalms 119:166, 10 4:27,145 :15, and 146:5.
6
C/.Galatians 5:5, Romans 5:2ff.,8:24f., 12:12,15:4,Ephesians 1:18,2:12, Philippians 1:20,
and Titus 1:2, 2:13, 3:7.
7
I Corinthians 15:20-23, and Romans 4:17-21, 15:12-13.
8
In the book of
Acts,
Luke emphasized the central place that hope occupies in the Christian
life. Jes us ' resurrection, he argued, has vindicated the hope that a Messiah would com e and that a
life of glory is in store for all believers. Cf. Acts 2:26, 23:6, 24:15, 26:6f., 28:20. In I Peter hope
is the expectation of glory in this life and in the next.
Cf
I Peter 1:3,
2 1;
3:15.
For a fuller treatment of hope in the Old and New Testaments, cf Rudolf Bultmann and
Karl
H.
Rengstorf, ' Ε λ ιά ς , έ λ π ί ζ π ,
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 1964, Π ,
517-
35 ,
and P. S. Minear, Hope,
The Interpreter s D ictionary of the Bible,
1962, Π , 640-43.
'Plato,
Philebus,
36a-b.
Cf.
also
Laches,
198b. Plato 's most extensive treatment of hope and
expectation is to be found in Philebus, esp . 36-40.
m
Ibid., 40a-b . It is worth noting that Plato thought the gods provided the virtuous person
with correct expectations and the evil individual with incorrect ones.
Plato,
Timaeus,
69d.
On the question w hether hope is beneficial, there is an old Greek fable according to which
Zeus gave hum anity a jar of good things, but the hu man's curiosity led to taking off the cover, and
all the things escaped except hope. The fable concludes, And so it is that hope alone abides with
men, promising to give us each of the other blessings that escaped.
Babrius,
#58. The translation
is by Ben Edw in Perry in the Loeb Library edition (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1965), p. 75.
n
Cf Plato, Phaedo, 63c, 64a, 67a-68b; Apology, 41c ; and Republic 331a.
Aristotle, Rhetoric, Π , 12, 1389a 20f.; Π , 13, 1390a, 5ff.; and De Memoria et
Reminiscentia,
1, 449b, 27f.
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Introduction
19
Aristotle,
Rhetoric,
Π , 5,1383a 16ff.
15
The translated Septuagint version is: To Seth a son was born, and he called his name
Enos;
he hoped to call on the name of the Lord God. In Quod Detenus Potion Insidiari Soleat,
XXXVin, 138, Philo rendered the last part of this verse,
He
first hoped
to
call
on
the name
of
the
Lord God. The Hebrew text in the Kittel edition may be translated, To Seth a son was born, and
he called his name Enos; then man began to call on the name of the Lord.
Just as in Philo's system Enos typified hope, so Enoch represented repentance and
improvement, and Noah symbolized justice. Philo, De Abrahamo HI, 17, and VI , 33.
I6
Philo, De Abrahamo, Π , 8. The translation is by F. H. Colson in the Loeb Library edition
(Cam bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950), VI, 9. The phrase Colson translated as
comfortable hopes is έ λ π ίσ ι χ ρ η σ τ α ΐ ς .
Ibid.
18
Philo,
De
Praemiis
et Poenis,
Π , 10. The translation is by F. H. Colson in the Loeb Library
edition,
Vin, 319.
l9
Ibid., Π , 11. The translation is by Colson in the Loeb Library edition, VHJ, 319.
^ h i l o ,
Quod Detenus P otion Insidiari
Soleat, XXXV HI, 138. The translation is by F. H.
Colson and G. H. Whitaker in the Loeb Library edition, Π , 295.
2l
Philo,
De
Praemiis
et
Poenis,
Π , 14. The
translation
is by
Colson
in the
Loeb Library
edition, VJU, 321.
22
Augustine,
On
Christian Doctrine, 1,37-40; E nchiridion, 1,3, andU, 8. The subtitle of the
Enchiridion is On Faith, Hope, and Love. Augustine based his list of characteristics on I Cor.
13:13.
23
Augu stine,
Confessions,
Book Thirteen, XIV, 15; City of God , XIX, 20.
Augustine, C ity of God, XIX, 4:
Confessions,
Book Ten, XXVffl-XXIX, 39-40.
R . A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St. Augustine.
(Cambridge: University Press, 1970), p. 166.
^Thom as Aquinas,
Summa
Theologica, Part Π of Second Part, Q 17 , Arts. 1,5,6; Part I of
Second Part, Q 62, Art. 3; De Virtutibus in communi, 12. The other theological virtues are faith and
love.
Thom as also designated hope as one of the four principal passions of the soul—the others
being sadness, joy,
and
fear. Thom as Aquinas, De Veritate,
Q
26 ,
Art. 5.
^Thom as A quinas, Summa Theologica, Part Π of Second
Part,
Q1 7, Arts. 2-4; De Virtutibus
in communi, 12.
28
Thomas Aquinas, De
Spe,
1,
ad 1.
29
Thomas A quinas,
Summa Theologica,
Part
I of
Second Part,
Q 40,
Arts.
1-3;
Part
Π of
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2
Kant s Philosophy
of
Hope
Second Part,
Q
18, Arts.
1 and 4.
' When hope
is
given
up, men
rush headlong into
sin, and are
drawn away from good
works. (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part Π of Second Part, Q 20, Art. 3.) The
translation is
by
the Fathers of the Eng lish Dom inican Province
in
the Great Books of the W estern
World edition (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1952), XX , 477.
31
Martin Luther,
Lectures
on
Genesis, Chapters 45-50,
trans. Paul
D.
Pahl,
Vol. Vm,
Luther s Works
(St.
Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1966),
p. 115.
Cf. also
a
remark which
Veit Dietrich attributed
to
Luther:
Faith teaches that there
is a
resurrection of the dead
on the
Last Day. Then
hope adds: Well, if that is really true, then let us stake all we have on it; and let us
suffer whatever
we
must,
if
thereafter
we
shall become such great lords. (Martin
Luther, What Luther Says, ed. Ewald Μ . Plass, Π (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 1959), p.
669.)
32
Luther, What Luther
Says,
Π , 6 68 .
33
Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians,
1535,
trans. Jaroslav Pelikan, Vol. XXVII, Luther s
Works (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1964), pp. 26ff.
^Luther, What Luther Says,
Π ,
668-669.
Calvin gave hope somewhat less prominence that Luther,
but he did
think
it an
important
aspect of the Christian life. Hope ,
he
thought, is
an
unshakable confidence that one will experience
glory. Doubt can never be consistent with hope ; hope is virtual knowledge that blessing awaits one
beyond
death.
Cf. John Calvin, Treatises in Defense of the Reformed Faith, trans. Henry Beveridge
(Grand Rapids: Wm . B. Eerdmans, 1958), Γ Π ,
137f.
35
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Part I, Chapter VI (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1950), p. 43.
' 'John Locke, An
Essay
Concerning
Human Understanding,
Π , XX,
9.
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, ΙΠ ,
Π , DC
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958), p.
438.
The other direct passions he listed are desire, aversion, grief, joy, fear, and volition.
Ibid.
Ibid, p.
439.
• Rene Descartes, Passions of the Soul, Part Π , Art. LVm.
'Spinoza,
Ethics,
Γ Π , Prop. XVIII,
n. 2.
42
Baruch Spinoza, Spinoza s Short Treatise on God,
Man,
an d His
Well-Being,
trans.
A.
Wolf
(New York: Russell
&
Russell, 1963),
p.
92.
Ibid.
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Introduction
2 1
This dialogue, which is without title, appears in Gottfried W ilhelm
Leibniz,
Philosophical
Papers and Letters, ed . Leroy E. Loemker (Chicago: U niversity of Chicago Press, 1956), 1,332-38.
Leibniz developed elaborate theological and metaphysical argumentation to support his theodicy,
the most complete collection of which is his work entitled simply, Theodicy. But neither this book
nor his other writings related to the topic contain specific discussion of hope.
45
Less sanguine about mankind's further development were such figures as Voltaire and
Rousseau, but even they held that under certain conditions humanity could make great advances
beyond its present conditions. Voltaire proposed that mankind would be able to expand know ledge
greatly and live a much richer life if it could free itself from wars, prejudices, superstitions, bigotry,
and fanaticism. Cf. especially
Essai sur
les moeurs
et l'esprit des
nations
et sur lesprincipauxfaits
de l'histoire depuis Charlemagne jusqu'a Louis
XIII,
ed. Rene Pomeau (Paris: Gam ier, 1963).
Rousseau, of course, claimed that the development of civilization had led to human regress, but even
he proposed that humanity could com e to a much better state if all economic, social, and political
inequalities could be eradicated. His Social Contract was a proposal for such a cond ition. Cf. Jean
Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourses, trans. G. D. H. Cole (New York: E. P.
Dutton and C o., 1913).
The question of ust how prominent
optimism
really was in the eighteenth century has been
the topic of an extremely lively debate. Carl Becker characterized the age as an era of faith in
human ability to build the Heavenly City on this earth through the full use of man kind's rational
capacity to comprehend all the laws of nature. Ernst Cassirer thought that the prevailing philosophy
of that age was optimistic because people were confident that mankind can know and live according
to natural physical and moral laws. Charles Frankel has contended that the century was m arked by
a faith in reason and science (rather than revelation) as reliable guides to truth and insurers of
progress.
Henry Vyverberg and Peter Gay have been among the challengers to this prevailing view.
They have argued that there was also a realization in that century of mankind's fanaticism,
ignorance, and other defects and that there was a corresponding streak of pessimism that ran through
the age. Although their points have offered a valuable antidote to the interpretations of Becker and
others, nevertheless it is true that several writers of that period were confident that human progress
in many areas was assured.
For the key arguments in this debate, cf. C arl L. Becker, The Heavenly City of the E ighteenth
Century
Philosophers
(New Haven: Yale University P ress, 1932); Ernst Cassirer,
The Philosophy
of the Enlightenment, trans. F. A. C. Koelln and J. P. Pettegrove (Boston: Beacon Press, 1955);
Charles Frankel,
The Faith of Reason
(New York: Octagon Books, 1969); Henry Vyverberg,
Historical Pessimism in the French Enlightenment (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University P ress,
1958);
Peter Gay, The Party
of Hum anity
(New
York:
Alfred A. Knopf,
1964),
pp.
188ff.
and 270f.;
and R. O. Rockwood
(ed.),
C arl Becker's Heavenly City Revisited (Ithaca, N.
Y.:
C ornell University
Press, 1958).
* C .
I. Castel, abbe de Saint-Pierre, Scheme for a Lasting Peace, trans. H. Hale Bellot
(London: Peace Book Company, 1939). Cf. also J. B. Bury, The Idea of Progress (New York:
Dover, 1955), pp. 127-43.
47
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot,
R eflections on the Form ation and Distribution of Riches
(New York: Macmillan, 1898). Cf. also Anne Robert Turgot, "Tableau philosophique des progres
successifs de l'esprit humain," Oeuvres de
Turgot, ed.
G ustave Schelle (Paris: F. Valcan, 1913-23),
vol.
I.
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Kant's Philosophy
of
Hope
• Gotthold Lessing, The Education of the Human Race, Lessing's Theological Writings,
trans.
Henry Chadwick (Stanford: Stanford U niversity Press, 1957), pp. 82-98.
*>Ibid., p. 96.
' Antoine-Nicolas
de
Condorcet, Sketch
for a H istorical Picture of The Progress of the
Human
Mind, trans. June Barraclough (London: Weidenfeld
and
Nicolson, 1955), p.
173.
5l
In
a key
passage
de
Condorcet wrote:
We shall find in the experience of the past,
in
the observation of the progress
that the sciences
and
civilization have already made,
in
the analysis
of
the progress
of the human m ind and of the development of its faculties, the strongest reasons for
believing that nature
has set no
limit
to
the realization
of
our
hopes.
(Ibid.,
p .
175.)
52
G. W. F. Hegel, The Phenomenology of Mind, trans. J. B. Baillie (2d ed.; New York:
Macm illan, 1949), pp. 251-67, esp. 254f.
M
Karl Marx, Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels,
O n Religion (New
York: Schocken Books, 1964),
p. 42. The
paragraph which
precedes the sentence quoted reads:
Religious distress is at the same tim e the expression of real distress and the
protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart
of a heartless world, just as
it is the
spirit
of
a spiritless situation.
It is the
opium
of
the people.
(Ibid.)
Julian Huxley, New
Bottles for New Wine
(New York: Harper & B rothers, 1957), p. 289.
55
Cf. Julian Huxley, Religion without Revelation (New York: New American Library, 1958),
esp.
pp. 181-212.
56
Charles Sanders Peirce,
Collected Papers
(Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1965-66),
5.357. He also referred to this hope as the assumption that man or the comm unity (which may be
wider than man) shall ever arrive at a state of information greater than some definite finite
information.
(Ibid.)
Ibid., 2.655.
The other two sentiments he mentioned are interest in an indefinite community —which he
likened
to charity, and recognition of the possibility of this interest being made supreme —which
he called faith. Cf. ibid.
5>
Ibid., 2.654f.
59
John Stuart Mill,
Theism (New
York:
The
Liberal Arts Press, 1957), pp .
55 and
78-82.
' This
is the
essay , Utility
of
Religion, which
he
wrote between
1850 and 1858.
John
Stuart Mill,
"Nature " and
Utility
ofReligion "
(New York:
The
Liberal Arts
Press, 1958), pp.
79-80.
61
Mill, Theism, p. 81. This essay was written between 1868 and 1870.
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Introduction
23
62
Ibid.,
p p.
81f. In the
same essay
he
wrote,
When the reason is strongly cultivated, the imagination may safely follow its
own end and do its best to make life pleasant and lovely inside the castle, in reliance
on the fortification raised and maintained by reason round the outward bounds.
(ÄW.,p.81.)
63
S0ren Kierkegaard, Either/Or,
trans.
David F. and Lillian M . Swenson (Garden City, New
York: Doubleday, 1959), I, 288-89.
64
S0ren Kierkegaard,
Repetition,
trans. Walter Lowrie (New York: Harper Row, 1964),
p.
34.
65
S0ren Kierkegaard,
For
Self-Examination, Judge for Yourselves
and
Three Discourses,
1851, trans. Walter Lowrie (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1944), p. 102.
A s, for example,
in
The Sickness unto
Death.
Cf S0ren Kierkegaard, F ear and Trembling,
and
The
Sickness unto Death,
trans. Walter Lowrie (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and
Company, 1954), pp. 141-262.
67
S0ren Kierkegaard, Works
of Love, trans.
Howard and Edna Hong (New York: Harper and
Brothers, 1962), pp. 234ff.
^Martin Heidegger, Being
and
Time, trans. John Macquarrie
and
Edward Robinson
(New
York: Harper & Row, 1962), p.
396.
^Ga briel Marcel,
The
Philosophy
of
Existentialism, trans. M anya Harari (New York: Citadel
Press, 1970), p. 28.
' Gabriel Marcel, Homo Viator, Introduction
to a Metaphysic of
Hope, trans. Emm a Craufurd
(Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1951), pp . 32-36.
n
lbid.,
p. 36, and
Gabriel Marcel, Being and
Having,
trans. Katharine Farrer (New York:
Harper
Row, 1965), p.
74.
72
Erich Fromm ,
The Revolution of Hope
(New York: Harper & R ow, 1968), p. 13.
n
Ibid., p . 9.
74
Erich Fromm ,
The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
(New York: Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston, 1973), p. 438.
75
Fromm, The Revolution of Hope,
pp. 17ff.
Fromm even provided
a
this-worldly
interpretation of resurrection:
Resurrection
in
its new meaning—for which the Christian m eaning would be
one of the possible sym bolic expressions—is not the creation of another reality after
the reality of this life, but the transformation of this reality in the direction of greater
aliveness. Man and society are resurrected every mom ent in the act of faith and of
hope in the here and now; every act of life, of awareness, of compassion is
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4
Kant's Philosophy of Hope
resurrection; every act of sloth, of
greed,
of selfishness is death. Ibid., p. 17.)
16
Ibid.,
p p.
llff.
Ez ra Stotland, The Psychology of Hope (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1969), pp .
7f.
n
Ibid., pp. 17ff.
Hermann Cohen, Reason and H ope: Selections from the Jewish Writings of Hermann
Cohen,
trans. Eva Jospe (New York: W. W . Norton, 1971), pp. 122ff.
m
Ibid., p . 126.
Cf
ibid.,
p .
123.
82
Hermann Coh en,
Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des
udentums (2d
ed.;
Darmstadt:
Joseph Melzer Verlag, 1966), pp. 363-64. Co hen 's view
of
life after death
was
simply that o ne's
spirit would go home to God; he did not understand it as personal, individual existence beyond
death. Cf. Cohen, Reason and Hope, p.
139.
''Martin Buber, Replies
to My
C ritics, The P hilosophy of Martin Buber, ed. Paul Arthur
Schilpp
and
Maurice Friedman
(La
Salle, Illinois: Open Court, 1967), p.
715.
^M artin Buber, Hope
for
t is
Hour, Pointing the W ay; Collected Essays of Martin
Buber,
ed. Maurice S. Friedman (New York: Harper Row, 1963), p. 220.
85
Hope for this Hour was originally delivered as a speech in 1952 at the conclusion of a
lecture tour Buber had conducted in the United States.
^Martin B uber, Paths in Utopia, trans. R. F. C. Hull (Boston: Beacon Press, 1958), p. 142.
The word for the village comm une may also be transliterated, 'kvu tzah.'
87
Buber,
Pointing the W ay,
pp. 224-29. The ideal community can be understood, I think, as
people living together in full I-Thou relationships as they are described in Martin Buber, /
and
Thou, trans. Ronald Gregor Smith (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1937).
88
Ernst Bloch, Das Prinzip Hoffnung (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1959). In each of
the five main sections of the book Bloch treated a form of this consciousness. The sections are
titled, Little Daydreams, The Anticipating Consciousness, Wish-Ideals in a Mirror, Sketches
of a Better World, and Wish-Ideals of the Fulfilled Mom ent.
89
Bloch expressed this point with the slogans, 'S is not yet P' and 'Incipit vita nova.' Ernst
Bloch, Man on His
Own: Essays
in the
Philosophy of Religion,
trans. Ε . Β . Ashton (New York:
Herder & Herder, 1970), p.
90.
Bloch, Das
Prinzip Hoffnung,
p . 1.
Bloch,
M an
on His
Own,
p. 91.
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Introduction 2 5
w
Jurgen Moltmann, Theology of
Hope,
trans. James W . Leitch (New York: Harper & Row ,
1967),
p. 25.
Jürg en Moltmann, The Theology of Hope, The Future of Hope, ed. Frederick Herzog
(New York: Herder and Herder, 1970), pp. lOff.
^Moltmann's views have been expanded and altered by a number of other prominent
theologians—e.g. Pannenberg, Metz, SchauU, and Braaten. They have been strong advocates of
living for an eschaton of freedom, justice, equality, and peace, and some have proposed that
Christians should be revolutionaries—fighting to open up God 's future. SchauU has been the
strongest advoca te of revolution, but Braaten has also written along those lines. Cf. Richard SchauU,
Revolutionary Change in Theological Perspective, Christian Social Ethics in a Changing World:
An Ecumenical Theological
Inquiry,
ed. John C. Bennett (New York: Association, 1966), pp . 23-43,
and Carl
E.
Braaten, The Future of God: The Revolutionary Dynamics of Hope (New York: Harper
and
Row,
1969),esp.pp. 141-166. ForPan nenb erg's views, c/Wolfhart Pannenberg, Tfteo/ogy and
the Kingdom of G od (Philadelphia: The W estminster Press, 1969) and What is Man?, trans. Duane
A. Priebe (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970). For the views of Metz, cf. Johannes B. Metz,
Creative Hope, Cross
Currents,
XVII (1957), 171-79; The Responsibility of Hope, Philosophy
Today, X (1966), 280-88; Poverty of the Spirit (New York: Newman P ress, 1969); and Theology of
the World (New York: Herder and Herder, 1969).
CP R, A804-805 = B832-833.
Alles Interesse m einer Vernunft (das spekulative sowohl, als das praktische)
vereinigt sich in folgenden drei Frage n:
1. Was kann ich wissen?
. 2. Was soll ich thun?
3.
Was darf ich hoffen?
This material is examined in Chapters 2 and 3.
T he relevant material in these writings will be treated in Chapters 2 and 4.
Imm anuel Kant, Philosophical Correspondence
1759-99,
ed. Arnulf Zweig (Chicago: T he
University of Chicago Press, 1967),
p.
205.
The brackets are the editor's. Religionwithin the Limits
of Reason Alone is very important for the purposes of this study, and in Chapter 3 it is treated in
some detail.
There is also an interesting passage in the Logic which shows Kant's interest in hope.
Although the w ork was first published in
1800,
it was a handbook Kant used for his lectures on logic
and may have been written several years earlier. The passage reads:
The field of philosophy in the cosmopolitan sense [i.e., in the sense in which
it unites all men in the search for the ultimate end of human reason] may be
summarized in the following questions:
1. What can I know?
2. What should I do?
3.
What may I hope?
4. What is man?
Metaphysics answers the first question, ethics the second, religion the third, and
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2 6
Kant's Philosophy of Hope
anthropology the fourth. (Immanuel Kant, Logik, KGS , IX, 25.)
Relevant parts of the
M etaphysics of Morals
will receive attention in Chapter 2. Portions
of Perpetual Peace and The Strife of Faculties are treated in Chapter 4.
l00
Some translators, e.g. Beck (Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a
Cosmopolitan Point of View, On History (Indianapolis: Bobbs-M errill, 1963), p. 3 (VIE, 18) as
well as Greene and Hudson (Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (New York: Harper
and Row, I960)), have rendered the term Gattung as race in the sense of the human race, but
Kant also wrote about various races ( Racen ) in such essays as Von den verschiedenen Racen der
Menschen.
m
Cf. Chapter 4, section I. The distinction may be found in Kant, Idea for a Universal
History, p. 13 (VIII, 18-19), and in Kant, Anthropology from a Pragm atic Point of
View,
trans.
Mary J. Gregor (The Hague: Martinus
Nijhoff,
1974), pp. 151-52 (VII, 285-86), and pp. 182ff. (VII,
321ff.). In the latter work K ant also included sections on the character of the sexes, of nations, and
of races, but those categories can be understood in terms of the nature of the species.
l02
Clement C. J. Webb, Kant's Philosophy of Religion (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926); and
F. E. E ngland, Kant's Concept of God (London: Allen and Unwin, 1929). In his study of K ant's
philosophy of religion, Schweitzer focused on the tension between K an t's critical idealism and his
moral emphasis and did not give attention to the topic of hope. Cf. Albert Schweitzer, Die
Religionsphilosophie Kants in der Kritik der reinen Vernunft bis zur Religion innerhalb der Grenzen
der bloßen Vernunft (Freiburg: J. C. B. Mohr, 1899). Bohatec 's excellent study of the historical
backgrounds to Religion within the L imits of Reason A lone treats the topic of ho pe only briefly. Cf.
Josef Bohatec, Die Religionsphilosophie Ka nts in der Religion Innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen
Vernunft
(Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1966). Wood mentioned hope only in passing in the work in
which he defended K an t's use of the moral postulates.
Cf.
Allen
W.
Wood,
Kant's M oral Religion
(Ithaca: Cornell University P ress, 1970).
103
Lucien Goldmann, Imm anuel Kant�