Hope now and then - Sartre and the ethical end of history

This study examines the theme of ‘hope’ in an ethical end to History as expressed by Sartre in his final thoughts in the dialogue Hope Now shortly before his death. It first examines in detail Sartre’s thinking in the controversial text of Hope Now and then proceeds through a close examination of two relatively neglected texts from the two major periods of Sartre’s work. These are the Cahiers of the late 1940s and his lecture notes for his undelivered talk at Cornell University in the mid-60s entitled ‘Morality and History’. The aim is to establish the development of Sartre’s thinking concerning the relationship between ethics and history and ultimately to consider how far his final ‘hope’ in an ethical ‘end’ to history can be justified in terms of is own thinking. A secondary aim is to provide the basis for a reconsideration of the status of Hope Now within the overall context of his thinking. What emerges from Sartre’s texts considered here is a subtle and complex relationship between ethics and history which well exemplify Sartre’s great merits as an ethical thinker. The study concludes that there is indeed genuine scope for ‘hope’ within his thought and that his views in Hope Now are plausibly and illuminatingly related to the ground he had already covered in his search for an ethics.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

mres

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Sorrell, James

• B Athroniaeth (Cyffredinol)

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:1382