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Rick Werner
Rick Werner
Richard Werner, the John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy, has published the lead article "Hope and the Ethics of Belief," in Positive Peace, edited by Andrew Fitz-Gibbon and with an introduction by Arun Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi's grandson (Rodopi, 2010). Using the reasoning of William James' "Sentiment of Rationality" and recent findings in empirical psychology, Werner argues that we should be hopeful when the facts allow because of the self-fulfillling prophecy that can be contained in hope. Hope is to be preferred to trendy cynicism.

Hope can lead us to intelligent social action based on enlightened egoism both as individuals and as nation-states. The Marshall Plan rather than Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq should be our model. It is cheaper to buy people and it has better consequences than attempts to terrorize or kill them through war. International cooperation better serves our long-term interests than war, as recent events reveal.

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