Description
Book SynopsisA 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 capacitieshope, trust, and forgivenesscontend 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 opportunitiesand 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.
Trade Review“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.” -- Katie Stockdale, University of Victoria
“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.” -- Mark Christian Thompson, Johns Hopkins University
“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.” -- Megan Craig, Stony Brook University
Table of ContentsPreface
Hope
Interlude: On Being Partial to the Truth
Trust
Interlude: Become Who You Are Not
Forgiveness
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index
