Abstract
A catalogue of hopes frequently concludes with the one most comprehensive, a state in which all mankind’s sound desires and real needs are fulfilled. Such a conception is a utopia, and usually emphasizes that human beings are truly human only within society, and thus the full measure of happiness can be taken only if it is a social order that is measured. Ernst Bloch has such an emphasis, as does Immanuel Kant; More’s Utopia and Plato’s Republic show such emphasis as well — in contrast, for example, to Schopenhauer’s nirvana.
He who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. Ecclesiastes 9:4
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Prinzip Hoffung, p. 1378.
Romans 9:3. Recall Moses, ready to be erased from the book of life if his fellows are not forgiven by God (Exodus 32:32).
See Philip Merlan, “Eschatology, Sacred and Profane” Journal of the History of Philosophy 9 (April 1971): 193–203.
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© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
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Godfrey, J.J. (1987). Hope, Society, and History. In: Godfrey, J.J. (eds) A Philosophy of Human Hope. Studies in Philosophy and Religion, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3499-3_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3499-3_9
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