From Hopelessness to Despair: Psychological States After the Loss of Hope

Recent psychological and philosophical research has placed emphasis on aspects of hope that were left unnoticed by earlier attempts to define hope through a set of necessary and sufficient conditions. This development has been coupled with making distinctions between different psychological states that share some of hope’s features. Less attention has been given on applying analogous distinctions to the examination of hope’s loss and to the psychological states that result from it. The essay aims to bridge this gap, by offering a description of the psychological states connected with the loss of hope and of the effects that these states have. It begins by discussing some prominent features of hope, focusing on its complexity. It then gives an account of hope’s abandonment and of its absence. Concentrating on three distinct states, hopelessness, desperation and despair, the essay examines cases where one can experience despair or desperation without experiencing hopelessness and vice versa. The essay’s claim is that elements of hope remain even in cases where one’s attitude is no longer hopeful and that these elements can affect one’s beliefs and actions in significantly diverse ways.