Cynicism as a moral quality

On the occasion of the publication of the new volume of the 26th Philosophicum Lech, "Alles wird gut. On the Dialectics of Hope", a philosophical-literary duet between Michael Köhlmeier and Konrad Paul Liessmann at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

"Can we still hope at all? What are we allowed to hope for?"

Immanuel Kant's famous question should be reformulated today: Can we still hope at all? In the face of a world shaken by crisis, in which news of climate catastrophes, wars, collapsing supply systems and pandemics outbid each other, there no longer seems to be any room for those hopes that were expressed in optimistic expectations, bright utopias and visions of eternal peace. Everything will be fine. At the 26th Philosophicum Lech, speakers from philosophy, social and cultural sciences and neighbouring disciplines discussed whether this sentence is justified or should be understood ironically.