is false hope better than no hope?

[Thalassa]

When it comes to some thing like a love interest I would infinitely prefer to be told to drop dead than have false hope or any kind of ambivalence. I can find dates fairly easily, so I would rather not spend my time pointlessly hoping to get with some one who is taken or decides I am not their type.

For many other situations, though, hope is extremely beneficial and good for you, as [MENTION=11066]tkae.[/MENTION] already mentioned.

 

[Society]

In order to answer the question, I came up with the only two logical definitions I could think of.

Definition 1: It’s what we say ‘the loser’ had after he/she loses a gamble. For example, you hope to win the lottery, you don't, and your neighbor does, so your hope turned out to be false. And life is a gamble, which requires hope on a grander scale. Almost everything we do requires it. Some will survive the ride to work, some won’t, but hope will put people in the driver’s seat. The alternative is hopelessness, depression, and suicide. (In this case, hope is better than hopelessness.)

Definition 2: Believing in something that, with 100% certainty, does not exist. (In this case, there may be benefits for the well-being of someone with a medical condition. I think the ‘placebo effect’ is a good example of putting hope into something that isn't real where benefits are realized.)

what about goals with scalable benefits?

you didn't corner a market, but you still have a profitable product.
you didn't win first prize, but you've developed your skill in training towards it.
your startup didn't get bought for millions, but it's an excellent product for the resume.
your not getting a life time SO, but the companionship was fun and the sex was awesome.

i

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

what about goals with scalable benefits?

you didn't corner a market, but you still have a profitable product.
you didn't win first prize, but you've developed your skill in training towards it.
your startup didn't get bought for millions, but it's an excellent product for the resume.
your not getting a life time SO, but the companionship was fun and the sex was awesome.

i

It seems like people usually say this kind of stuff after the fact, and they always sound like they don't quite believe it themselves. Perhaps this would be useful if this was conceived beforehand.

 

[Qlip]

I know it may seem obvious to other people what hope is false or not, but the truth is, you never know if it's false. It will either have happened and become true, or not happened and remain yet-to-be-true. I think with everything considered, it's best to have something to strive for even if it seems unreasonable, than not to have anything.

It all comes down to whether it's best to live a 1000 years and be a miserable bastard, or 20 and be the happiest person in the world.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I know it may seem obvious to other people what hope is false or not, but the truth is, you never know if it's false. It will either have happened and become true, or not happened and remain yet-to-be-true. I think with everything considered, it's best to have something to strive for even if it seems unreasonable, than not to have anything.

.

Damn you, providing a Te justification for hope! This one actually got through.... curses!

I'll think about this.

 

[Giggly]

Maybe someone's already said this but it depends on what the person wants. If they like false hope, then that's what's better for them. If they rather honesty at all costs, then that's what's better for them.

 

[Fluffywolf]

Hope is something that can always have its place.

Having no hope is simply a conscious descision to give up on hope.

False hope does not exist...

If someone has hope because someone else who doesn't have hope gave that person hope without believing it themselves (thus considering it false hope), the hope the receiving person feels is still genuine, therefor false hope does not exist.

...

I guess this is end thread?

 

[Salomé]

Beliefs have measurable effects. One cannot say anything definitive about the merits or demerits of "false hope", one can only measure whether the result of having those beliefs is more positive or negative, which varies with circumstances.

I think in general hope is preferable to hopelessness, but if hoping for the best means you fail to take appropriate steps to help yourself or others, then it's not a useful condition.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Maybe someone's already said this but it depends on what the person wants. If they like false hope, then that's what's better for them. If they rather honesty at all costs, then that's what's better for them.

I think in some cases, though, hope might help improve motivation, possibly, I don't believe that it is necessarily required in every situation, however.

 

[Giggly]

I think in some cases, though, hope might help improve motivation, possibly, I don't believe that it is necessarily required in every situation, however.

I agree.
And not only is it not required in every situation, it's not even wanted in every situation.
It really just depends on the person.

 

[Giggly]

It's interesting how people see hope differently.

False hope to me is when someone is intentionally lying to you making promises that they can't keep or knowingly letting someone believe in something that's false. Sometimes people simply fail to consider whether they can keep a promise or not, which I also find irresponsible.

Yes, some people do prefer this over no hope at all. They even deliberately gravitate towards those who they know are irresponsible with promises because false hope is guaranteed. But others would rather brutal honesty so they can move forward or in a different (more fruitful) direction.

 

[Lark]

I miss Whatever, she was/is one of my favourite forumers.

I didnt even fight with her that much.

 

[Fluffywolf]

It's interesting how people see hope differently.

False hope to me is when someone is intentionally lying to you making promises that they can't keep or knowingly letting someone believe in something that's false. Sometimes people simply fail to consider whether they can keep a promise or not, which I also find irresponsible.

Yes, some people do prefer this over no hope at all. They even deliberately gravitate towards those who they know are irresponsible with promises because false hope is guaranteed. But others would rather brutal honesty so they can move forward or in a different (more fruitful) direction.

You mean like the cliche of a father running out on his child whilest saying he is just going out to buy some ice cream?

The thing is though, even if that father hadnt said anything, the child will still hope for his return. Plus even if the father has no intention of ever coming back, he might still in the future.

So even though as you say the father may have given the child false hope. The hope that child may have to see his or her father again, is still very real.


Or the cliffhanger. The person that hangs on by a thread, saying he will make it and everything will be fine. Even though he knows he is not. The hope he gives others that he might make it is still real, at least until the moment he indeed does not make it. Still, the hope felt is not false hope.


And going to the extreme, even saying to a child that they will see their parents again, even though the parents have been lost in some accident and are no longer alive, that child's hope to see the parents again is still very real, and even after learning of their deaths may still continue to exist, depending on what the child chooses to believe in.


So to me, any hope felt is never false. You either have it or you don't, but you never have false hope.

 

[Ginkgo]

I'd say they're equally bad. Whether you're disillusioned or misguided, you're likely to be too caught up in it to value any potential perks you might pass by along the way.

I'm a fan of open-mindedness and feasible hope.

 

[Giggly]

You mean like the cliche of a father running out on his child whilest saying he is just going out to buy some ice cream?

The thing is though, even if that father hadnt said anything, the child will still hope for his return. Plus even if the father has no intention of ever coming back, he might still in the future.

So even though as you say the father may have given the child false hope. The hope that child may have to see his or her father again, is still very real.


Or the cliffhanger. The person that hangs on by a thread, saying he will make it and everything will be fine. Even though he knows he is not. The hope he gives others that he might make it is still real, at least until the moment he indeed does not make it. Still, the hope felt is not false hope.


And going to the extreme, even saying to a child that they will see their parents again, even though the parents have been lost in some accident and are no longer alive, that child's hope to see the parents again is still very real, and even after learning of their deaths may still continue to exist, depending on what the child chooses to believe in.


So to me, any hope felt is never false. You either have it or you don't, but you never have false hope.

Well children are different because they have no choice.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

False hope to me is when someone is intentionally lying to you making promises that they can't keep or knowingly letting someone believe in something that's false. Sometimes people simply fail to consider whether they can keep a promise or not, which I also find irresponsible.

Yes, some people do prefer this over no hope at all. They even deliberately gravitate towards those who they know are irresponsible with promises because false hope is guaranteed. But others would rather brutal honesty so they can move forward or in a different (more fruitful) direction.

Brutal honesty can allow me to learn something. It's impossible to learn from false hope; indeed, it can insure repetition of the same mistakes.

The grey area here is situations in which hope is not necessarily false, and may in fact be the most rational and productive course of action. A risk is not valuable in and of itself, but risk may be necessary in some situations to prevent stagnation. Hope is useful for navigating risk, perhaps. I haven't used it much myself, but it might be something worth considering.

I do believe that optimism is a neutral trait, and is not something I can ever see myself valuing for it's own sake. If you never think of what can go wrong, this can lead to carelessness, and errors and injustices that could have easily been avoided.

 

[Such Irony]

Not for me it isn't. I like knowing the truth, even if the consequences are painful.

 

[Qre:us]

Reminded of the Disney classic, Dumbo.

 

[ygolo]

False hope or no hope?

False hope or no hope?

An obvious false dichotomy...but, if you had to chose between the two, which would you prefer and why?

It seems that [MENTION=1180]whatever[/MENTION] posted this thread already:
http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/philosophy-and-spirituality/30940-false-hope-hope.html

Can we add my poll to it?

 

[Nicodemus]

I say it depends on what you want to accomplish.