Sofus Messell (Wadham College): 'Hope For The Best, Prepare For The Worst'
Abstract: Hope is often thought to sustain difficult action. Some theorists claim it does so by making agents more risk-inclined, thereby motivating continued effort despite uncertainty. Although this view promises an elegant explanation of hope’s practical role, I argue that it fails. I show that there is neither a necessary nor even a typical link between hope and risk-inclination, and that such a link, even if it existed, could not explain why hope supports perseverance. I close by considering what this reveals about the nature of hope and sketching alternative accounts of how hope might help us persist in the face of difficulty.
