The Philosophy of Hope; The Future of Public Philosophy
Our new print issue is published tomorrow - please support us by buying a copy!
Dear all,
Lots of images today!
I’m very excited that our new print issue is published tomorrow:
It is the second installment of our 100th anniversary print issues that look to the future of philosophy - in this case, public philosophy. Here is the first one:
Here are the contents for the new issue:
And the issue features a new essay and images by the brilliant Alexandra Grant:
Huge thanks to Peter West and Jonathon Hawkins for their amazing work as guest editors of this issue. Please support us by buying a copy!
You can find out more and order it here (or sign up for a print/digital subscription here).
Your Sunday Read
“The Hope of Public Philosophy” by Yarran Hominh. This is a stunning essay by a powerful emerging voice. Looking to both subjective and objective aspects of hopelessness, Yarran notes that “To live in hopeless times is not only subjectively to feel hopeless. It is for that feeling in a real way to reflect the way things are.” He then goes on to ask what role philosophy, and especially public philosophy, has not just in consoling individuals against despair in a world that remains unchanged, but in changing the worldly conditions of hopelessness. Touching on various traditions, including pragmatism, Black radicalism, and activism, Yarran’s essay shows how philosophy can respond to the perceived lack of a future that is characteristic of hopelessness. You can read his essay here.
P.S. You can also watch Yarran discussing his essay in tomorrow’s event (see below).
Monday Event: 11am PT/2pm ET/7pm UK
The Philosophy of Hope
Alexander Douglas and Yarran Hominh with Helen De Cruz
We live in times of hopelessness. The social systems that we have built and in which we live are failing us. They condemn us to lives, at best, of meaningless labour – at worst, of suffering and domination at the hands of others. We are simultaneously destroying the earth systems on which these human social systems rely and with which they are entangled. Human life and more-than-human life are in tandem being laid to waste.
Amidst all this, can philosophy be a source of hope? Today it is common to believe that the answer is no – that providing hope, if it is possible at all, belongs either to the predictive sciences or to religion. Join three leading philosophers for a discussion of hope, hopelessness, Spinoza, beatitude, Daoism, freedom, activism, and much more!
You can find out more and register here.
Recordings of last week’s events
For those of you who missed Monday’s event on “Public Philosophy: Past, Present, and Future” featuring Angie Hobbs, Peter West, and Jonathon Hawkins, you can watch the recording here.
For those of you who missed Tuesday’s event on “Democracy in African American Political Thought” featuring Melvin Rogers and Neil Roberts, you can watch the recording here.
Ending
The Philosopher is unfunded and relies on your support to keep doing the work we do. It is a constant struggle to break even and requires an immense amount of hard work - almost all of it unpaid.
You can offer a donation, join us via Patreon, or become a print or digital subscriber. All support is greatly appreciated!
Wishing you all a lovely Sunday, wherever you are.
Anthony Morgan
Editor