2024 marked the 300th anniversary of the birth of the philosopher Immanuel Kant. Throughout his life, he was preoccupied with the questions: What can I know? What shall I do? What may I hope for? According to philosopher Claudia Blöser, Kant can still help us face global crises today.

Interviewer: Eva Schissler

Professor Blöser, you deal with Immanuel Kant and in particular with what he wrote about hope. Why?

This interest dates back to when I was a student. In addition to philosophy, I also studied physics. I was fascinated by the fact that Kant regarded the natural sciences as a model and wanted to transfer their systematic approach to philosophy. He thought very precisely and systematically about all the important questions of human existence. But I took an independent interest in the concept of hope because I find it very important in times of crisis. In such situations, people also hope for answers from philosophy. These can be personal crises such as illness or the loss of a relative, but also political crises. In our times of climate crisis, for example, people are asking themselves whether they can hope for a good future.

In this context, Kant is an interesting philosopher because of the great importance he attaches to hope. It is interesting that he categorizes hope as a question of reason.
 

There is an anecdote about Kant that he once stopped at a pub by a cemetery called ‘Zum ewigen Frieden’ (To Perpetual Peace). Does this mean that we can only hope for peace in the afterlife?

He actually describes this pub in the first sentence of ‘Zum ewigen Frieden’, his central work on hope. He wants to raise the question of whether eternal or perpetual peace is only to be found in death, while in life people are always at war and peace is only a dream. However, he explains in his work why he is does not share this view.

In his earlier work, ‘Kritik der reinen Vernunft’ (Critique of Pure Reason), he still links hope very closely to belief in God and the immortality of the soul. What we hope for therefore lies in a future life – in the hereafter. He also wants to defend this kind of hope, but in his later works he is increasingly interested in the political hope for peace and a just world. In ‘Zum ewigen Frieden’, he describes a political ideal that we should realize in life.
 

How would you summarize Kant’s approach to hope?

For Kant, hope is the expectation of something that lies in the future and is evaluated positively; an attitude that concerns an uncertain good that is considered possible. I would describe it like this: Hope becomes relevant when our knowledge and the ability to control our actions reach their limits. Kant deals with the concept of hope in the first place because he recognizes that both are limited. Other Enlightenment philosophers like Descartes, Hobbes, Hume and Locke regarded hope as a mere feeling, an affect. Kant also acknowledges that hope has an emotional, affective component, but the question of whether hope is reasonable is also important to him. According to Kant, hope is reasonable if it does not contradict what we know and we do what we are supposed to do.

He believes that we must make certain existential assumptions, in theory, about the world that go beyond what we can know. Specifically, he means the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. We cannot know that God exists and that the soul is immortal, but we can believe it. To be able to hope, we even have to make these assumptions. On the other hand, we have to do what we are supposed to do – defined according to the categorical imperative, which some people are certainly familiar with: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” So he rephrases the question of hope once again: If I do what I am supposed to do, what can I hope for? When he talks about hope, he thus assumes that we are practically doing what we should be doing.
 

For Kant, does action precede hope or is there an interaction between acting ‘right’ and ho

It really is a reciprocal relationship. To be able to hope, we must act as we should. For example, hoping that we will be successful or that there is a good future. On the other hand, hope can bolster our actions. Because the good future in which our moral goals are achieved is uncertain, there is a danger of resignation. With hope, it is much easier to act. 
 

You have used the Kantian concept of hope to address climate change in your academic work. How is it relevant in that context? 

It makes sense to try out Kantian ideas here, because the issue touches on questions of a good future, humanity and a decent life. The question of hope arises in this crisis because, on the one hand, we know that we must remain capable of acting in order to improve the situation. On the other hand, in view of the size of the problem, resignation or even despair can quickly set in. Things are only moving very slowly for the better – if at all. Also, the question of hope is already being discussed publicly in the context of the climate crisis. Greta Thunberg said at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2019: “I don’t want your hope. I want you to panic, I want you to feel the fear I do. Every day. And I want you to act. I want you to behave like our house is on fire. Because it is.” 

So the question is: Does hope lead to passivity? Does it merely serve as consolation? This brings us back to the interplay between hope and action. On the one hand, hope is a resource that helps us as individuals to act in difficult and uncertain times: In view of the climate crisis, we should all do something, although it is unclear whether individual action will make any difference at all.
 

Another use case you have worked on is the fight against global poverty. How is hope relevant in that context?

When it comes to poverty, it is important that the people affected do something themselves to improve their living conditions. Even if it is very uncertain how successful they will be and their situation depends heavily on larger contexts. In such a situation, they need hope. On the other hand, the problem cannot be solved at an individual level, but requires a change in political structures. Action must be taken at a political level so that hope is not just an illusion, not just consolation. That is the Kantian idea: In order to be able to hope at all, we need trust in the fundamental structures of the world order. In Kant’s case, for example, this is the assumption that God exists or that nature is constituted in such a way that our political goals can be realized.

In the fight against climate change and poverty, we need trust in the political structures. However, these structures are not naturally given, we can change them in order to achieve our goals. Only then is our hope rational. That is why global problems should not be individualized too much – hope is not just an individual resource, but must be supported by political action.
 

Today, once again, war is raging in Europe. Is it still appropriate to hope for ‘perpetual peace’ with Kant? The Russian president is at least one powerful player who is not necessarily acting as he should on the basis of reason.

Yes, that is a problem. Resurgent wars all over the world do not give us much hope that we are getting any closer to perpetual peace. But Kant acknowledges that wars exist. Perpetual peace is a normative ideal that we should strive towards, for example by creating the legal conditions for peace on earth. For Kant, incidentally, a condition for peace is that states are democratically organized. He calls it ‘republican’, but what he really means is something like representative democracy. He would therefore not be surprised that de facto dictatorships such as Russia are waging war.

Obviously, peace in Ukraine – or in the Middle East – is very difficult to achieve. Kant made a succinct observation on this: As long as no one can prove that perpetual peace is impossible, we must continue to work towards this ideal. And as long as we act to realize it, we can also hope.

Digital Kant Centre NRW 
The Digital Kant Centre NRW brings together several research projects by scholars and researchers on the topic of what Kantian answers to today’s questions could be. They apply the basic principles of Kant’s philosophy to pressing questions of contemporary politics and social order. The regular ‘Digital Kant Lectures’ are recorded and published on the centre’s YouTube channel. In addition to the University of Cologne, the universities of Bochum, Bonn and Siegen are also part of the project.