Hope as an incentive. Breakfast seminar 19 November 2016 Patrick Nullens

Transcription

1 Hope as an incentive Breakfast seminar 19 November 2016 Patrick Nullens

2 «Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.» Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate THE GATE OF HELL - DANTE Inferno Many intense desires, yet no hopes, no future, no way out...

3 Hope: A Christian Virtue Par Excellence Contrast to critical/negative view of hope in classical world Pandora s box Cyclical versus linear view on history The God of hope (Rom. 15:13) Your Kingdom come...

4 Hope: A Christian Virtue Par Excelence (2) Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13:13) Hope is always connected to faith & love Hope: already and not yet (Kingdom of God). Thomas Aquinas (13 th Cent. AD): Hope as a passion and as a theological virtue

5 dum spiro spero Hope as an incentive Goldschmeding Foundation Project:

6 Understanding, Measuring, and Implementing Hope Concept of hope: history, theology, philosophy, psychology Measuringhope, economics, happiness studies, implementing THE HOPE BAROMETER Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organization

7 Soft Skill and Psychological Capital Theology Philosophy Literature, film... postive psychology Social psychology HOPE economics Biology-neurology MANAGEMENT & ORGANISATIONS CIVIL SOCIETY

8 New Academic Interest in Hope

9 Dialogue theology and economics Theology: Ethics of Hope We become active in so far as we hope. We hope in so far as we can see into the sphere of future possibilities. We undertake what we think is possible. Realism teaches us a sense for reality for what is. Hope awakens our sense for potentiality for what could be. In concrete action we always relate the potentiality to what exists, the present to the future. (Moltmann, 2012) Economics: Hope as a management strategy: When hope is based on real-world experience, knowledge and tangible and intangible data it results in trust, which is necessary to implementing any strategy. (Mills-Scofield, 2012)

10 Reasons for hope and economics 1. Need for hope in fearful and cynical Europe 2. End of the homo economicus (fact/value distinction) and the re-emergence of trust 3. Hope as a virtue of the free market (McCloskey) 4. Purpose: human flourishing (capabilities)

11 Hope: A Complex Phenomenon Either we have hope within us or we don t; it is a dimension of the soul, and it s not dependent on some observation of the world. Hope is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond the horizons. Hope in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction, that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. It is Hope, above all, which gives the strength to live and continually try new things. Vaclav Havel ( 2011)

12 Definition To hope for an outcome is to desire (be attracted to) it, to assign a probability somewhere between 0 and 1 to it, and to judge that there are sufficient reasons to engage in certain feelings and activities directed toward it. (Martin, 2013)

13 Hope: Agency & Network Phenomenon (network, syndrome); Elements of a molecule (bonding) Ø FEELING: emotional aspect about desires or concerns Ø THINKING: a cognitive aspect in the assigning of probabilities, mental imagination Ø WILLING: deliberation (prudence), motivational power Ø ACTING: a voluntary element in the engagement (virtue) + Institutions, structures, policies

14 Personhood and Self-Transcendence social - relational homo amans transcendent homo religious FAITH LOVE TRUST temporal homo viator HOPE Freedom Identity purpose

15 Important Distinctions High agency (active) vs. low agency (passive) Prudent hope vs. utopism Individual vs. social hope Ethical vs. unethical hope

16 Aspirational hope, agency and prudence We have to hope and act on it (rescue worker) 2.5 AGENCY Let s invest some time and money in this new enterprise. We ll see (business) Gambler Forecast nice weather PRUDENCE

17 Hope and cognitive psychology Trait Hope Scale (C.R. Snyder) Hope reflects the belief that one can find pathways to desired goals and become motivated to use those pathways. Aspects: ØGoal directed behavior ØPath way thinking ØAgency thinking

18 Critique from Christian Perspective (1) 1. Overcoming the egocentricity of eudaimonism Hope is related to love Hope frees us from the imprisonment of the self and lifts us above the self. (Pannenberg, 1998: 179.) Gabriel Marcel: availability to the other 2. Theocentric basis of hope God as the basis of hope (protology and eschatology, Pannenberg) God directs our longings and hopes (Mat. 6:10, 33)

19 Critique from Christian Perspective (2) 3. The leading virtue of justice Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. (Ps. 89:14) 4. The need for an all compassing Christian worldview Christian hope, like that of Abraham, has its basis in the God of promise, but oriented now to the fact that with the coming of Christ the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham for the peoples (Rom.8:14) has already broken in historically. (Panneberg, 1998, p. 174) Hope and social imaginary, a hermeneutical framing

20 MASTERCLASS Hope: Motivation for Happiness Tools for managers and entrepreneurs 18th January 2017 Faculty Club, Leuven (in Dutch, on December 14, 2016, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands)

21 Q & A - Discussion 1. How do you see hope mainly: as an emotion, a way of thinking, a virtue? 2. Social hope has a needed inclusive effect (oposed to fear and populism) - Discuss 3. Is hope a useful concept in your own profession/organisation? Why, or why not? 4. In what sense is hope a cultural given? 5. Do Christians increase hope and make a difference or are they more driven by fear?