Author : Loren Goldman
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 251 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1124197508
The Sources of Political Hope: Will, World and Democracy by Loren Goldman Pdf
This dissertation concerns the nature of hope for political progress in the contemporary world. Indeed, what is hope, and what role does it play in political thought? Despite the concept's recent prevalence in popular politics and democratic theory alike, the problematic it presents remains hardly recognized. Hope is a paradoxical phenomenon: constitutively uncertain, demanding often improbable or even irrational belief in the possibility of a future not yet realized, yet at the same time a necessary condition for intentional action, a phenomenological human constant. Political hope presents a similar problem: engaged citizens enter the fray with at least the tacit hope that their participation will contribute to a more desirable world, albeit often without much ground. While it used to be that theorists could predicate their political hopes on eschatological philosophies of history, -- Catholicism, Absolute Idealism, Historical Materialism, etc. -- the loss of conviction in teleological metanarratives leaves post-Enlightenment thinkers with the question of how to comprehend hope without a metaphysical ground for progress. This dissertation investigates the problem posed by hope in social action, political theory and democracy by tracing an ongoing yet overlooked discussion in modern political thought.