Hope as the Conscious Action towards an Open-Future

Iris Meyer Abstract In this paper I present the concept of hope as a human driving force aimed at a better future, in accordance with and on the basis of the thought of the German philosopher Ernst Bloch, with reference to Albert Camus' notion of the absurd. Hope, I shall argue, is situated in the reality of the present; however, insofar as it aspires to the future, it contrasts the actual present and acts as a negating force within it. In the present, human beings are subject to privation, distress and pains; hope stands for the desire to transcend from this present onto a future which is different, new, and always better. The paper mainly discusses the affinity which hope constitutes between theory and praxis. I claim that hope may be a reason for an integral relationship between these two facets and that via its mediation philosophy is translated into praxis; with the aid of hope, praxis, too, can be translated into philosophy. In other words, the hoping person does not only expect a better future but acts in order to change the present, and by this he constitutes by himself – within the boundaries of the possible – his own future. In this context I inquire into the concept of hope in face of Albert Camus' concept of the absurd. I demonstrate the different alternatives these two views present us, and argue that both of them produce an affinity between theory and praxis. However, while hope assumes that the real possibility deduces from theory as to its becoming reality, the absurdist standpoint proceeds to action, as if it is hoping, but at the same time the consciousness accompanying this activity points patently at the real impossibility of its realization.