Hope

1. Historical outline

Hope first plays a significant role within Augustine’s theory of morality where it appears as one of the three theological virtues – faith, hope and charity, or love (see Augustine §8; Theological virtues). According to Augustine, the virtue of hope is subordinate only to faith, and on a level footing with love: ‘there is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither love nor hope without faith’ (Enchiridion).

As morality became separated from theology during the Enlightenment hope became less important in ethics. There are, however, three notable exceptions to this general trend: Immanuel Kant, Ernst Bloch, and Gabriel Marcel (see §§3–5). In each of these writers the connection between hope, on the one hand, and morality, religion and faith, on the other, is as tight as it was for Augustine. However, both Kant and Bloch interpret religion and faith neither as revealed nor as metaphysically proven, yet as reasoned, while Marcel contrasts both hope and faith to human desiring and calculating, that is, to instrumental rationality.