The Philosophy and Politics of Despair

The Philosophy and Politics of Despair

University College Dublin, 22 January 2025.

It is common both in ordinary language and in the philosophical literature to speak of despair as being the opposite of hope. Quite literally, the dictionary definition of ‘despair’, is “the complete loss or absence of hope”, while philosophers contrast despair with hope both in terms of its content and motivational force (e.g. Meirav 2009, Milona 2017), as well as its politics, where despair is often said to be connected to fatalism and giving up (e.g. Malm 2020, McKinnon 2014). 

The traditional understanding of despair, however, has led to it being philosophically underexplored, especially in comparison to hope. As a result, important philosophical points about despair have been neglected: 

• Despair is often denigrated as an affect, being spoken as as something we ought to avoid or escape – even if we may have perfectly good reasons for feeling it.

• The simple opposition between hope and despair often causes us to miss the fact that both appear to be dialectically related – e.g. that despair can play a productive role in guarding against false hopes (Huber 2023).

• The fact that whether an agent loses hope and despairs can often be linked to political and structural injustices, and is often interrelated to other emotions such as anger and bitterness (Stockdale 2020, 2021)

This workshop seeks to address this gap in the literature. We are interested in papers which:

• Examine despair as a rational response, and might even counsel despair.

• Explore the ways in which hope and despair might be intertwined.

• Draw on the history of philosophy to expand our understanding of despair (e.g. Kierkegaard’s understanding of despair as opposed to faith; Kantian considerations about despair). 

• Interrogate the politics of despair, e.g. by relating despair to structural injustice, or examining despair through a feminist lens.

Confirmed speakers

• Tom Whyman (Liverpool)

• Dan Watts (Essex)

We are seeking submissions of papers related to the topics above, suitable for 30 min presentations. Please send an abstract of max. 500 words to [email protected] by 30th November 2024. We aim to notify speakers before the 7th December 2024. Early-career researchers and folk from underrepresented groups in philosophy are especially encouraged to apply. We aim to provide some assistance for travel and accommodation costs on a needs basis, but will confirm this closer to the workshop date.