The Primacy of Hope

Abstract

This paper raises the question of whether there is anything foundational to hopefulness when considering it as a virtue, and uses the Aristotelian distinction between virtue in the "natural sense" and virtue in the "strict sense" to make the claim that hopefulness has a primacy to it. While that primacy rests on the existence of care and responsiveness of community, those caretakers must themselves be possessed of hopefulness, which, at its best will be virtuous.

“Bringing new life in”: Hope as a know-how of not knowing

“…While some contemporary philosophers hold an outcome, in its degree of uncertainty and its degree of desirability, as the key variable of a hope formula, others turn to ancient Western thought and propose that hope is best seen as a virtue, and perhaps a foundational one ( Gravlee, 2000 ; Woolfrey, 2016 ). Being hopeful (“having the virtue of hopefulness”) “gives us the motivation to see that acting appropriately (virtuously) matters” ( Woolfrey, 2016 , 128).…”

“…While some contemporary philosophers hold an outcome, in its degree of uncertainty and its degree of desirability, as the key variable of a hope formula, others turn to ancient Western thought and propose that hope is best seen as a virtue, and perhaps a foundational one ( Gravlee, 2000 ; Woolfrey, 2016 ). Being hopeful (“having the virtue of hopefulness”) “gives us the motivation to see that acting appropriately (virtuously) matters” ( Woolfrey, 2016 , 128). On this view, hopefulness is a cultivated character trait that underlies and promotes other virtues, such as courage, and that enables hope itself: “Hopefulness precedes and produces the commitment to hope in particular instances” ( Woolfrey, 2016 , 131).…”

“…Being hopeful (“having the virtue of hopefulness”) “gives us the motivation to see that acting appropriately (virtuously) matters” ( Woolfrey, 2016 , 128). On this view, hopefulness is a cultivated character trait that underlies and promotes other virtues, such as courage, and that enables hope itself: “Hopefulness precedes and produces the commitment to hope in particular instances” ( Woolfrey, 2016 , 131). Broadened to the point of background condition, however, one finds a counter perspective that hope cannot be a virtue, as it is unremarkable, indeed a prerequisite for any living or acting at all ( McGreer, 2004 ).…”