About

Democratic Hope is a junior research group (Nachwuchsforschergruppe) investigating the multifaceted role of hope in democratic societies. Our aim is to develop a normative vocabulary that allows us to account both for the unavoidability of hope in democracy and for its pitfalls.

We build upon existing philosophical work on the nature and rationality of hope, while paying close attention to the fact that democratic politics raises distinct questions concerning the value, objects and normativity of hope on both individual and collective levels.

The group thus combines resources from epistemology, philosophy of mind and moral psychology with the unique perspectives of political philosophy and democratic theory. We also explore links to ongoing debates about progress, political emotions or collective action.

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Democratic Hope is funded by the VolkswagenStiftung’s Freigeist Initiative and hosted by the Department of Philosophy at Freie Universität Berlin.

Democratic Hope

Our aim is to develop a normative vocabulary to allow us to account both for the unavoidability of hope in democracy and for its pitfalls.