Kant's Revised Account of Hope in Human Progress

Abstract Kant remained throughout his life committed to the idea that we can justifiably hope humankind is progressing. But there are important changes in how he conceptualized this hope. This paper maps out two underappreciated shifts in Kant's thinking between his final word on the subject, in his 1797 An Old Question Raised Again, and his accounts of hope in progress in earlier texts, including the Common Saying essay and Toward Perpetual Peace. The paper also shows that this new account remedies some problems with his pre-1797 discussions.