Adrienne M. Martin, How We Hope: A Moral Psychology, Princeton University Press, 2014
ISBN 9780691151526.
Reviewed by Erica Lucast Stonestreet, College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University
Adrienne Martin’s book is a detailed analysis of an ordinary phenomenon that has not had much attention in recent moral psychology. The account extends the “orthodox” view of hope (as a desire for an outcome together with a belief in the outcome’s possibility) by adding what Martin calls an “incorporation” element: what distinguishes hope from other attitudes is the hopeful person’s incorporating the desire into her agency as a reason for hopeful activities. Her treatment seriously engages many historical and contemporary views of hope, ultimately aligning most closely with Kantian ideas of moral psychology.
The entire book review is here.
