Hope:

No, Yes, as If

Abstract

The article I share below does not constitute an academic research in the strict sense of the word. Rather, it is the partial result of a search. A search for answers in the midst of many questions; a search for light in a horizon of darkness; a call for hope in the face of the temptation of sadness. The itinerary is very simple, even though I trust that it may be as fruitful for the readers as it was for myself, at least in part (searches never end; shadows are never completely dispelled; faith and hope are always subject to tests).

First of all, I describe the ideas developed by A. Comte-Sponville in his essay entitled Happiness Desperately (2008). Indeed, the author associates wisdom and happiness as the «absence of hope». Secondly, I share part of what Byung-Chul Han argues in his book The Spirit of Hope. Han invites us to assume «hope as a soul temper» that impels us to the birth of the new. Without this «daydreaming of hope» we would be as if dead in life. As a result of Comte Sponville’s NO and Han's YES, I sought the synthesis of AS IF. I hope I can help you to think about this passion and this virtue which is, in my opinion, indispensable for the construction of a flourishing life.