Rational Hope against Hope? A Pragmatic Approach to Hope and the Ethics of Belief

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore apragmatic approach to hope and the ethicsof belief that allowsrationalhope against hope. Hope against hope is hope thatgoes beyond what the evidence supports by hoping for something that is bothhighlyunlikelyand highlyvaluable.¹However,this could take different forms.One could either hope against the evidence or merelygobeyond it; the evidencecould be inconclusive or conclusive,conflictingorclear ,misleading or plain, ab-sent or neutral. Hope against hope then covers everything from hoping for some-thing thatappears unlikelytohoping for something thatappears impossible,judging by theavailable evidence.