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Analyzing Hope : The Live Possibility Account

Palmqvist, Carl-Johan LU (2020) In European Journal of Philosophy
Abstract
The orthodox definition of hope suffers from an exclusion problem: it is unable to exclude subjects without hope. In fact, the orthodox definition even allows for despair to be falsely classified as hope. This problem suggests two basic desiderata for a successful analysis of hope; it should solve the exclusion problem, and it should have the resources to explain why, in a given situation, a subject does or does not form a hope. Bearing these desiderata in mind, I assess two recent hope-accounts offered by Jack M. C. Kwong and Cheshire Calhoun. I then offer my own view, which is based on the Jamesian notion of a “live possibility”. I suggest that a possibility needs to reach a certain probability-threshold in order to count as live, and... (More)
The orthodox definition of hope suffers from an exclusion problem: it is unable to exclude subjects without hope. In fact, the orthodox definition even allows for despair to be falsely classified as hope. This problem suggests two basic desiderata for a successful analysis of hope; it should solve the exclusion problem, and it should have the resources to explain why, in a given situation, a subject does or does not form a hope. Bearing these desiderata in mind, I assess two recent hope-accounts offered by Jack M. C. Kwong and Cheshire Calhoun. I then offer my own view, which is based on the Jamesian notion of a “live possibility”. I suggest that a possibility needs to reach a certain probability-threshold in order to count as live, and according to my account, to hope is to desire the truth of such a live possibility. This view is well equipped to solve the exclusion problem, and it can explain why a subject does or does not hope. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
Hope, William James, Possibility
in
European Journal of Philosophy
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN
0966-8373
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
89d5b982-ae3a-4811-bb34-9f55bf99ccc9
date added to LUP
2020-07-30 09:31:46
date last changed
2025-04-04 13:58:03
@article{89d5b982-ae3a-4811-bb34-9f55bf99ccc9,
  abstract     = {{The orthodox definition of hope suffers from an exclusion problem: it is unable to exclude subjects without hope. In fact, the orthodox definition even allows for despair to be falsely classified as hope. This problem suggests two basic desiderata for a successful analysis of hope; it should solve the exclusion problem, and it should have the resources to explain why, in a given situation, a subject does or does not form a hope. Bearing these desiderata in mind, I assess two recent hope-accounts offered by Jack M. C. Kwong and Cheshire Calhoun. I then offer my own view, which is based on the Jamesian notion of a “live possibility”. I suggest that a possibility needs to reach a certain probability-threshold in order to count as live, and according to my account, to hope is to desire the truth of such a live possibility. This view is well equipped to solve the exclusion problem, and it can explain why a subject does or does not hope.}},
  author       = {{Palmqvist, Carl-Johan}},
  issn         = {{0966-8373}},
  keywords     = {{Hope; William James; Possibility}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Philosophy}},
  title        = {{Analyzing Hope : The Live Possibility Account}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}