Thinking about realistic hope

Hope and fear are universal in human nature, embedded as they are in the structure of the brain. Fear is situated in the ancient amygdala, the source of the ‘flight or fight’ response, and hope in the more recently evolved frontal cortex. This capacity to envision the future also relies partly on the hippocampus, a brain structure that is crucial to memory. Recent studies indicate that directing our thoughts of the future towards the positive – hope – is a result of our frontal cortex communicating with sub-cortical regions deep in our brain. The human tendency to hope is a consequence of this evolution of our brains.

But hope and fear are not just about the functioning of the brain. Philosophers have for millennia been reflecting on hope. The contemporary debate about hope takes as its starting point what has been called the ‘standard account’, which analyses hope in terms of a wish or desire for an outcome and a belief concerning the outcome's possibility.

Those things we hope for and those things we fear are very much shaped by the prevailing social context and dominant beliefs. For example, hope for a life after death was one of the major topics in medieval philosophy, as is still true for many today. The modern secular world view of hope conceives of the future as a space for potential fundamental change and, as such, hope is integral to the notion of social progress. But social progress can evoke new hopes and fears, whether as a result of new technologies – for example, the constructive solutions addressing pandemics or the destructive threat of nuclear or biological weapons – or of impacts on the environment, besides many other possible changes.

Modern sociologists see hope as relational and social. They recognise hope as a public good, highlighting the benefits of growing up in a society within which one can hope, rather than face despair. But hope is also a private good and part of life. One never knows what surprises may lie ahead, so one needs to be alert and hard-headed about how best to create a better future.