K ierkegaard on the Metaphysics of Hope
2011; Wiley; Volume: 53; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/j.1468-2265.2011.00714.x
ISSN1468-2265
Autores Tópico(s)Philosophical Ethics and Theory
ResumoThe Heythrop JournalVolume 53, Issue 1 p. 51-60 ARTICLE Kierkegaard on the Metaphysics of Hope Roe Fremstedal, Roe Fremstedal Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, NorwaySearch for more papers by this author Roe Fremstedal, Roe Fremstedal Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, NorwaySearch for more papers by this author First published: 10 October 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2265.2011.00714.xCitations: 8Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Notes 1See P. Pettit, 'Hope and Its Place in Mind', The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science March (2004), pp. 152–165, p. 152; V. McGeer, 'The Art of Good Hope', The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science March (2004), pp. 100–127, p. 101; cf. P. Tillich, 'The Right to Hope', Christian Century (1990), pp. 1064–1067, http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=62 (accessed 30/9/2008); B.V. Nunn, ' Getting Clear What Hope Is' in J. Eliott (ed.), Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Hope (New York: Nova 2005), pp. 63–77, p. 64. A search in PubMed, PsycINFO, and Philosopher's Index show that 'while Medicine has experienced a sharp increase in the number of hope references, with a modest rise within Psychology, within Philosophy numbers have remained relatively low, only once featuring more than 20 articles in any five-year period.' J. Eliott, ' What Have We Done With Hope? A Brief History' in Eliott, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Hope, pp. 1–45, p. 29 (quoted), cf. pp. 35f. 2Rather, this says something about Kierkegaard's via negativa approach. Cf. Arne Grøn, Subjektivitet og negativitet: Kierkegaard (Copenhagen: Gyldendal 1997), pp. 74–78, ch. 3. 3 Grøn, Subjektivitet og negativitet, p. 151; cf. Gene Fendt, For What May I Hope?: Thinking with Kant and Kierkegaard (New York: Peter Lang 1990), p. 141. 4Cf. R.C. Roberts, ' The Virtue of Hope in Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses' in R.L. Perkins (ed.), Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses (Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press 2003), pp. 181–203 ( International Kierkegaard Commentary, vol. 5). Nevertheless, it is meaningful to say 'I hope you did well at your exam yesterday'. This suggests that (specific) hopes can refer to a past event whose outcome is uncertain. Cf. J.K. Muyskens, The Sufficiency of Hope (Philadelphia: Temple University Press 1979), pp. 15f; Spinoza, Ethics, IIID12 (Definition 12 of Part III). However, rather than being concerned with specific hopes such the above example, Kierkegaard is concerned with general hope. 5See also these passages dealing with religiousness in general (rather than merely religious hope): SKS 7:36; 5:263f, 267; CUP 29; EUD 268, 272. 6For similar claims interpreted within different frameworks, see McGeer 'The Art of Good Hope', pp. 104f, 109; P. Shade, Habits of Hope: A Pragmatic Theory (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press 2001), pp. 6f. 7Cf. Muyskens, The Sufficiency of Hope, pp. 15–17. 8This is a standard distinction in medical research and nursing studies. I would like to claim that this distinction ought to be clarified and elaborated on rather than dismissed, in particular since this distinction can help us assess whether hopes are justifiable. It is commonplace, especially in empirically oriented literature found in medical and nursing studies, to demand that hope must be realistic. However, there is very little agreement as to which hopes are realistic and therefore justified. Cf. J. Kylmä & K. Vehviläinen-Julkunen, 'Hope in nursing research: a meta-analysis of the ontological and epistemological foundations of research on Hope' Journal of Advanced Nursing 25 (1997), pp. 364–371; T. Rustøen, ' Håp og smerter hos kreftpasienter – et uutforsket område' in Stein Kaasa (ed.), Festskrift. Seksjon lindrende behandling gjennom 10 år (NTNU/St. Olavs Hospital: Trondheim 2004), pp. 84–93. Regarding the distinction between general and specific/particular hopes: Rustøen 'Håp og smerter hos kreftpasienter'; T. Morita, J. Tsunoda, S. Inoue, et al., 'An Exploratory Factor Analysis of Existential Suffering in Japanese Terminally Ill Cancer Patients' Psycho-Oncology 9 (2000), pp. 164–168; H.M. Chochinov, 'Dying, Dignity, and New Horizons in Palliative End-of-Life Care' A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 56 (2006), pp. 84–103; J.C. Jacobsen, L.C. Vanderwerker, S.D. Block, et al., 'Depression and demoralization as distinct syndromes: Preliminary data from a cohort of advanced cancer patients' Indian Journal of Palliative Care 12 (2006), pp. 8–15. 9Although it is the pseudonym Johannes de silentio who says it, this appears to be a point which is true in a general sense and which can therefore be attributed to Kierkegaard himself. Cf. Merold Westphal, Kierkegaard's Critique of Reason and Society (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press 1991), p. 89 including note 17. 10The Hongs translate ' Forstandighet' as 'common sense'. 11Regarding Kierkegaard's thesis about the universality of guilt and sin, see Michelle Kosch, Freedom and Reason in Kant, Schelling, and Kierkegaard (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006), esp. pp. 162f; Roe Fremstedal, 'Original Sin and Radical Evil: Kierkegaard and Kant', Forthcoming in Kantian Review. 12See Grøn, Subjektivitet og negativitet, pp. 143–153. 13Regarding the concept of the highest good in Kierkegaard and Climacus, see C.S. Evans, Kierkegaard's Fragments and Postscript (New York: Humanity 1999), pp. 142–147; J.D. Glenn, Jr., ' "A Highest Good … An Eternal Happiness": The Human Telos in Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript' in R.L. Perkins (ed.), Concluding Unscientific Postscript to 'Philosophical Fragments' (Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press 1997), pp. 247–262 ( International Kierkegaard Commentary, vol. 12); Roe Fremstedal, 'The Concept of the Highest Good in Kierkegaard and Kant' International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 69 (2011), pp. 155–171. 14Regarding Christian theology, see H.-G. Link, ' Hoffnung' in J. Ritter (ed.), Historiche Wörterbuch der Philosophie (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1974), vol. 3, pp. 1157–1166, 1160; cf. J. Moltman, Theology of Hope (London: SCM Press 2002), pp. 202–209, pp. 309–16. Regarding Kant, see P.J. Rossi, 'Kant's Doctrine of Hope: Reason's Interest and the Things of Faith' The New Scholasticism 56 (1982), pp. 228–238; Rossi, Together Towards Hope (Notre Dame and London: University of Notre Dame Press 1983). 15Moltmann tries to show that although the Christian tradition stresses man's sinfulness and guilt, this is not the only issue at stake. Moltmann tries to show that there must be justice for victims, and that this concern is found, at least implicitly, in the Christian tradition (J. Moltmann, In the End – the Beginning (London: SCM 2004), pp. 53–61). This certainly seems plausible if we include the discussion over theodicy. Elsewhere, Moltmann also stresses that we must hope for the Kingdom of God ( Theology of Hope, pp. 206f, 309ff). 16See Christoph Schulte, Radikal Böse. Die Karriere des Bösen von Kant bis Nietzsche (Munich: Wilhelm Fink 1991), pp. 279f; R.M. Green, Kierkegaard and Kant: the Hidden Debt (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press 1992), pp. 150ff, 221; Green, ' The Limits of the Ethical in Kierkegaard's The Concept of Anxiety and Kant's Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone' in R.L. Perkins (ed.), The Concept of Anxiety (Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press 1985), pp. 63–87, pp. 70f ( International Kierkegaard Commentary, vol. 8); Green, 'The Leap of Faith: Kierkegaard's Dept to Kant' Philosophy & Theology 3 (1989), pp. 385–411, p. 395; Fremstedal, 'Original Sin and Radical Evil: Kierkegaard and Kant'. Cf. Kant, Religion Within the Boundaries of Bare Reason, in Kant, Religion and Rational Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1996), 6: 22–25; Kant, Lectures on Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1997), 27: 302; NB 24:112; SKS 24:390; 7:383; JP 998; CUP 420f. 17E.g. Poul Lübcke, ' Kierkegaard's Concept of Revelation' in G. Linde, R. Purkarthofer, H. Schulz, and P. Steinacker (eds.), Theologie zwischen Pragmatismus und Existenzdenken (Marburg: N.G. Elwert 2006), pp. 405–414, pp. 411f. 18For an interpretation of the relation between faith and hope, see Roe Fremstedal, Kierkegaard and Kant on Anthropology and Religion: Evil, Faith, and Hope (Trondheim: NTNU 2010), ch 4. 19Kierkegaard identifies this hopelessness not only with despair but also with the medieval concept of acedia (SKS 18:44; EE:117, 117a; JP 739f), a concept that is notoriously hard to translate. The ethicist takes up the old theological doctrine that sees acedia as a cardinal sin but goes beyond tradition by seeing it as sin instar omnium, as the root and quintessence of all sins (SKS 3:183; EO2 189). Thus, Kierkegaard can be said to radicalise and universalise the medieval doctrine of acedia. See Michael Theunissen, Vorentwürfe von Moderne. Antike Melancholie und die Acedia des Mittelalters (Berlin: de Gruyter 1996), esp. 44–48. Although Kierkegaard's concept of despair comes close to what is today called depression (EO2 translates Tungsind 'depression'), it does not necessarily involve anhedonia like depression does. For this reason it actually comes closer to the demoralization syndrome, existential suffering, and existential distress than depression. See Roe Fremstedal, 'Demoraliseringssyndromet, eksistensiell lidelse og fortvilelse' Omsorg. Nordisk tidsskrift for palliativ medisin 23 (2006), pp. 57–63. 20Cf. Roberts, ' The Virtue of Hope', pp. 192f, 200f. 21See Evans, Kierkegaard's Fragments and Postscript, pp. 142–147; Glenn, ' " A Highest Good … An Eternal Happiness" ' Fremstedal, 'The Concept of the Highest Good in Kierkegaard and Kant'. 22A similar point about hope is made in Moltmann, Theology of Hope, pp. 3f. 23The Hongs render 'sidste Haab' 'ultimate hope'. 24E.g. Alastair Hannay, Kierkegaard (London: Routledge 1993), pp. 225–227; George Pattison, The Philosophy of Kierkegaard (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press 2005), pp. 99–102. 25Similar points about hope (but not about Kierkegaard) are made in Gabriel Marcel, ' Sketch of a Phenomenology and a Metaphysic of Hope' in his Homo Viator (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd 1951), pp. 29–67, pp. 38f; Moltmann, In the End, p. 153. 26See Link, ' Hoffnung', p. 1160; cf. J. Moltmann, Theology of Hope, pp. 202–209, pp. 309–316. 27 Glenn, ' "A Highest Good … An Eternal Happiness"?' pp. 261f; Fremstedal, ' The Concept of the Highest Good in Kierkegaard and Kant', pp. 168f. 28Regarding this dependency, cf. Grøn, 'Kærlighedens gerninger og anerkendelsens dialektik' Dansk Teologisk Tidsskrift 4 (1991), pp. 261–270. 29The type of love that hope depends on is commanded love. Kierkegaard writes: 'Only when it is a duty to love, only then is love […] eternally and happily secured against despair.' (SKS 9:36; WL 29) 30A similar conclusion is reached in Roberts, ' The Virtue of Hope', p. 195. 31At this point Kierkegaard's views converge with much of the recent literature on trust and some of the recent literature on hope. Regarding recent literature on trust: V. McGeer, 'Trust, Hope and Empowerment' Australasian Journal of Philosophy 86(2) (2008), pp. 237–254; regarding recent literature on hope: Pettit, 'Hope and Its Place in Mind', pp. 163–165. 32Cf. Grøn, ' Kærlighedens gerninger og anerkendelsens dialektik'; Pia Søltoft, Svimmelhedens etik (Copenhagen: Gad 2000), ch. 8. 33Thanks to the following for commenting upon earlier versions of this article: Anthony Aumann, Jamie Turnbull, Seth Lloyd Norris Thomas, Lars Johan Materstvedt, Bjørn K. Myskja, Kjell Eyvind Johansen and an anonymous referee. Citing Literature Volume53, Issue1January 2012Pages 51-60 ReferencesRelatedInformation
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