User:Pluke/philosophy/Hope

Marcel's Hope
Fear and desire; despair and hope

"The person who hopes does not accept the current situation as final; however, neither does she imagine or anticipate the circumstance that would deliver her from her plight, rather she merely hopes for deliverance"

"If I desire that my disease be cured by a given surgical procedure, it is very possible that my desire might be thwarted. However, if I simply maintain myself in hope, no specific event (or absence of event) need shake me from this hope." - it is the status of hope that one seeks, not the status of desire

“speaking metaphysically, the only genuine hope is hope in what does not depend on ourselves, hope springing from humility and not from pride” (Marcel 1995, p. 32)

Where despair denies that anything in reality is worthy of credit, hope affirms that reality will ultimately prove worthy of an infinite credit, the complete engagement and disposal of myself. - SEP

Problem and mystery
A problem is something which I meet, which I find completely before me, but which I can therefore lay siege to and reduce. But a mystery is something in which I am myself involved, and it can therefore only be thought of as a sphere where the distinction between what is in me and what is before me loses its meaning and initial validity. (Marcel 1949, p. 117)

When I am dealing with a problem, I am trying to discover a solution that can become common property, that consequently can, at least in theory, be rediscovered by anybody at all. But…this idea of a validity for “anybody at all” or of a thinking in general has less and less application the more deeply one penetrates into the inner courts of philosophy… (Marcel 1951a, p. 213)

Marcel often describes a mystery as a “problem that encroaches on its own data” (Marcel 1995, p. 19)

Mysteries
 * problem of evil
 * love
 * friendship
 * art

Pride
"Pride is not an exaggerated opinion of oneself arising from self-love, which Marcel insists is really only vanity; rather, pride consists in believing that one is self-sufficient" (Marcel 1995, p. 32)

hope in others
“How can I test the initial assurance that is somehow the ground of my fidelity? …this appears to lead to a vicious circle. In principle, to commit myself I must know myself, but the fact is I really only know myself when I have committed myself” (Marcel 1964, p. 163)

Being and having
when we hope, we do not have hope. We are hope. Similarly, we do not have a belief. We are a belief. - Gabriel Marcel

What Is "Good" Education Research? Karl Hostetler (2005)
Deborah Meier (1995) offers a rather different view. For her it is essential that students learn to be observant, playful, skeptical, imaginative, respectful of evidence, able to communicate, caring, and possess a good work ethic

Something vital is left out if we cannot embed the analysis within a realm of normative factors, such as a human being’s desire for dignity and a fair chance at a good life. Analysis may be inspired by moral concerns, and it may be used to serve moral concerns, but even more than that, it is itself a moral activity, a form of practical philosophy (Carr, 2003).

"Knowledge always means, precisely, considering opposites. Its superiority over preconceived opinion consists in the fact that it is able to conceive of possibilities as possibilities" Gadamer (1960/1989)

Five Dimensions of Existentially Authentic Education
To the degree that a person is in touch with and acting from the ultimate concern(s) at the core of his existence, his life is charged with the electricity of meaning. Without meaning, no set of circumstances, however pleasant, can ultimately sustain or satisfy a human being. With meaning, no set of circumstances, however difficult, can ultimately defeat an individual, who can find purpose, even joy, in the midst of his pain.

When I speak of transcendence, I am not necessarily referring to something beyond this world. The individual may find his ultimate meaning in this world, and this world alone, just as another may find it in something beyond this world... because it is the “bird’s eye view” ... Education that helps teachers and students further their life-narratives is education for meaning, and it is the only form of education that is existentially vital and valid [Does Frankl agree with this?]

"life-project" - discover this and you get transcendental meaning being for himself (being truthful to self) VS being for others (living in ways others expect you to live)

In consumer societies individuals tend to lose their status as individuals and become objects to be economically and politically manipulated. [see Marx and Marcel]

"Education that seduces children — with the bait of grades, status, and possessions — into uncritical conformity is education for false consciousness"

Maslow - self actualization at the top

"It is an attitude toward the student, not a program for her, which lies at the heart of existentially rich pedagogy"

"When a subject is handled poetically, it is used primarily as a springboard for a student to explore and expand his existence, and to then express this experience in words, actions, and products that betoken his growth" [how does AMDG fit in here?]

existentialist curriculum theorist Max van Manen (1982, 295). Students must see work as they view a good critic views a work of art.

"Education as conscientizacion sees the curriculum as a tool that the student can use to examine her life, expose those forces that are illegitimately constricting it, and devise ways of unfettering it so as to exist in greater scope, wisdom, and compassion"

"Where a student is treated as an object, no curriculum, however rich in existential potential, can really be existentially fruitful because, even though the teacher may talk the talk of helping students develop deeply, he is not walking the walk of authentic encounter with them"

"seeing the other person as an object of its own domineering desires and acquisitive goals, tries to negate the other’s existential identity in order to feed its own insatiable appetite and will. Yet, because we attain existential authenticity in ourselves only to the degree that we respond to it in others, we close the door on our own existential growth whenever we objectify another person in any fashion." [What about increased use of 'data' is this going against Buber etc, is this stopping us living existentially?]

"Dishonest discourse designed to keep things superficially “friendly” in the classroom by timidly evading real differences in points of view and conclusions among the participants is (be it ever so “polite”) not authentic" Also the need for humour

"Furthermore, a teacher must always be resisting the temptation to engage in “power talk” if he wishes to foster real communication"

"For some teachers and students, educational processes and products attain their greatest significance only when they point beyond themselves to a realm of spirit that transcends this world in every way"

"Education is the lure of the transcendent — that openness to a future that is beyond all futures" [through this we have truly 'religious' education]

"In sum, the teacher has both the burden and the boon of being entrusted with a sacred work — that of fostering narratives of hope in his students, narratives that promote their transformation and transcendence"

IN TOUCH : Autumn 2011 page 18 : Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Hope is different from optimism. 'Optimism is the belief that thinfs are going to get better. Hope is the belief that if we work hard enough we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope is an active one.'

Guardian 31st August 2012 - St Augustine called this kind of thing "cruel optimism"

Christian Hope - John Macquarrie
p1. Christian hope cannot be other worldly otherwise marxism is correct in criticising it. Christian hope is a total hope and it touches on all aspects of life. "It is not [cannot be] nullified by death"

p3. Christ as a new hope, if so can it be assimilated with secular views and understandings of hope

p4. Low keyed hope, an affirmation of the future, its simplest and most widespread form. Hope is a fundamental part of human nature

Marcel, 'I hope' is of a very low order, but this low order is needed to develop into "at its point of complete saturation"

p5. Hope has 3 aspects: Hope can be contrasted with fear
 * emotional
 * volitional
 * intellectual

emotional
Hope is an attitude that engulfs the entire person. Hope keeps us open, fear closes us. Faith requires doubt as hope requires fear. Does fear require hope? Probably not.

p6. Early USA hopefully and successful, later more closed and fearful

p7. Does hope have a bodily state like fear. See Frankl in Existential Psychotherapy.

Volition
P7 hope as volition as virtue in line with aristotilian virtue ethics

P8 “hope is a formed disposition of the will” that can act on the whole person, not just an individual act

Hope accepts human freedom, without freedom nothing could change “where hope is denied, persons are being destroyed

P9 Absurdity. To act is to have hope, we can’t live in a world of purely the absurd

Extreme pessimism / Extreme optimism = the same, no reason to act

“hope does not count on success or succumb to the illusion of progress, but it does inspire action because of the faith that success and advance are possible in the world”

Aquinas’ definition of hope.

Hope is being discontent, but not wholly discontent

P10 Aquinas “a good that lies in the future and that is difficult but possible to attain”

Virtue of hope (action) versus vice of despair (inaction)

P11 hope brings about change, not replacement, but transformation, a chance for the better

P12 Camus in the Rebel – absurdity would scarcely allow for hope nor warrant action “if the world were utterly absurd, hope would be impossible” and against Leibniz (?my link?) “if it were the best of all possible worlds, hope would be superfluous”

P13 we need a world of good and bad to have hope. Hope helps shape an unfinished world

Hope != optimism, it recognises evils, suffering and lacks.

Hope must be vulnerable to evidence counting against it

P15 How do we falsify a hope?

Planning required for hope, otherwise imagination can run riot, hope can’t contradict intellect, intellect should keep it in check

P16 Ernst Bloch “Where there is hope there is religion”

“Hoping that hope is at home in the universe” otherwise the absurd is possible

P17 hope and hoping might be religious – some objections on this page

Man has “a sense and taste for the infinite” – against positivism

Isolated hopes tend to coalesce into a unified or total hope (#this is a key concept#)

P18 argument for the truth of Christianity built on hope, BUT hope might be an illusion

Total hope versus total threat (death)

P19 death, even if we could avoid nuclear war must and prolong our lives indefinitely, would come to us all as the universe will end

Hope is shattered by total threat

However, death is seen by Heidegger as the making of meaningful life possible, see ancient greek example in existential psychotherapy

P20 but heidegger’s position isn’t universal, there are pointless/senseless deaths

Hope must recognise death and take it seriously (doubt must exist, hope can’t be optimism). A guaranteed eternal life offers nothing to live this life by.

P22 death awareness key to humankind and hope beyond. Arguments for life afterdeath.

P23 Alfred Edward Taylor – we can grasp eternity we don’t just live in the moment. We do both

P24 “When we consider seriously the hopes and aspirations that rise in man’s temporal existence, we have to acknowledge that they can be satisfied only in an external mode of existence”

Pannnberg (important, but why!?) “The phenomenology of hope shows man as a being whose fulfilment must transcend death”

P25 Objection 1 – how can a finite being truly grasp the infinite

P26 Objection 2 – can we say that fact and value belong together? If they don’t we are just talking nonsense.

P28 “hope must be related to the present and past to escape irrelevance, escapism and inhumanity”

P29 the largest hope is the hope of religion