Hope, Trust, and Forgiveness

A new ethics of human finitude developed through three experimental essays.   As ethical beings, we strive for lives that are meaningful and praiseworthy. But we are finite. We do not know, so we hope. We need, so we trust. We err, so we forgive. In this book, philosopher John T. Lysaker draws our attention to the ways in which these three capacities—hope, trust, and forgiveness—contend with human limits. Each experience is vital to human flourishing, yet each also poses significant personal and institutional challenges as well as opportunities for growth. Hope, Trust, and Forgiveness explores these challenges and opportunities and proposes ways to best meet them. In so doing, Lysaker experiments with the essay as a form and advances an improvisational perfectionism to deepen and expand our ethical horizons.

“Drawing upon diverse thinkers from several philosophical traditions, Hope, Trust, and Forgiveness is a beautiful exploration of how we relate to ourselves and one another as we navigate uncertainty, intimacy, and injustice. Lysaker has a rare and remarkable ability to capture the nuance of our lived experiences through his powerful writing. This book is rich with new insights.”, “A work in fragments without ever feeling fragmented, the book’s individual tesserae communicate a vibrant, beautiful, troubled world. Many of the text’s connected interventions stand on their own as self-contained ephemera advocating decency and care in harsh and uncertain times. Taken as a whole or in parts, this is a rich and intimate book that suggests philosophizing risks failure in the unshakable hope of getting ‘it’ right and in the knowledge that forgiveness must remain possible.”, “With creativity and candor, Lysaker returns us to scenes of ordinary life, reminding us of our finitude while also showing how finitude itself throws us toward each other in ways that demand courage and imagination. Above all, Lysaker performs the hope he describes, forging conversations between disparate thinkers and giving readers new resources for thinking about incremental action, pragmatic hope, and partial (therefore real) forgiveness. This might well be the handbook for our time.”

John T. Lysaker is the William R. Kenan Professor of Philosophy at Emory University. He is the author of many books, including Philosophy, Writing, and the Character of Thought, also published by the University of Chicago Press.