Infinite Hope as a Personal and Political Virtue

Michelle Moody-Adams (Columbia University)

One insight unites the political thought of Martin Luther King, the personal and political courage of such figures as Nelson Mandela and Viktor Frankl, and the global humanitarianism of Paul Farmer. It is the realization that hope—and in particular infinite hope—is essential to resilience in the face of adversity, effective resistance to injustice, and our capacity to promote “moral repair” of the world. Infinite hope is unshakeable confidence that even the worst malevolence and evil cannot extinguish all that is good in the world, or destroy the human capacity to do good. Join the philosopher Michele Moody-Adams as she helps us consider the moral and political implications of accepting that such hope is both a personal and a political virtue.