Aren't Hope and Faith really the same thing?

Question

....in a philosophical sense?

Answer 1

faith :

belief or trust: belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof.

religion or religious group: a system of religious belief, or the group of people who adhere to it

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861610309

firm belief in something for which there is no proof; complete trust. something that is believed especially with strong conviction.

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=faith

belief that is not based on proof. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.
in faith, in truth; indeed.

http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/faith

Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to
events and circumstances in one's life. Hope
implies a certain amount of perseverance i.e.
believing that a positive outcome is possible even
when there is some evidence to the contrary.

A person who dreads of 'what tomorrow may bring'
looses the zeal of life itself. He can not live in
the present even for one day. I do not agree that
'any person can fight the battles of just one
day'. There are many in the world who fight their
battles life long, and still live with some hope.

It is nice to live for today and complete what is
to be done today. But humans are distinguished
from the rest of the living beings by hope. For
other living beings, there may not be tomorrow.
But hope is life for humans. Tomorrow may not come
for a few. But the others are sure that there will
be a day after present one. And it is hoped by
many to be a little better than today. What is not
realized today may be within our reach tomorrow.
It is hope that make people to live through all
torments of life. The moment a person loses hope,
the very zeal to live is lost.

Living in the past is dreaming. Living in the
present intuition connected basic instincts.
Living in hope of is humanistic rationality
to look for future.

Hope - Pandora brought the jar with the evils and
opened it. It was the gods` gift to man, on the
outside a beautiful, enticing gift, called the
"lucky jar." Then all the evils, those lively,
winged beings, flew out of it. Since that time,
they roam around and do harm to men by day and
night. One single evil had not yet slipped out of
the jar. As Zeus had wished, Pandora slammed the
top down and it remained inside. So now man has
the lucky jar in his house forever and thinks the
world of the treasure. It is at his service; he
reaches for it when he fancies it. For he does not
know that the jar which Pandora brought was the
jar of evils, and he takes the remaining evil for
the greatest worldly good - it is hope! For Zeus
did not want man to throw his life away, no matter
how much the other evils might torment him, but
rather to go on letting himself be tormented anew.
To that end, he gives man hope.

"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life
are something to do, something to love, and
something to hope for." - Joseph Addison

Hope! Hope! Hope!
Delicious Hope! when naught to man it left - -
Of fortune destitute, of friends bereft;
When even his dog deserts him, and his goat
With tranquil disaffection chews his coat
While yet it hangs upon his back; then thou,
The star far-flaming on thine angel brow,
Descendest, radiant, from the skies to hint
The promise of a clerkship in the Mint.

People sow seeds with hope
And hope is the seed of life
People through ages hoped for eternity
Because hope is as great as eternity
Never give-up hope, never ever
Hope is your best mate, all the time
Even if all desert you unexpectedly
Hope will be with you, if you wish....

Answer 2

In a philosophical sense both hope and faith are mere beliefs rather than certainty..... uncertainty gives rise to both...... the difference between the two is merely the degree of confidence one has about it turning out to be true... philosophically, difference merely in the degree makes the two things relatively the same at different stages of the same progression....... this means that certain positive events can turn a hope into a faith and certain negative events can turn a faith into hope.

By the way, I believe the question has referred to faith in its broader sense rather than its narrow meaning relating to religion..... and it is with that understanding that I have provided my above answer. Trust it makes sense.

Answer 3

This is like nailing jelly to a fence. Looking at the problem from a superficial point, yes, they are basically the same in that neither indicates any sort of action.
Looking more closely at it, though, we have the problem of defining what each is, and here we get into the knot of perception. Each of us has a different perception of what Faith and Hope really are. Here's what I (if you'll excuse the term) believe.
Faith is the belief in something unproven and unprovable with contemporary knowledge.
Hope is just waiting for something to happen.
The hoper might have faith in something, but hope that he's right.
Oh, Hell! You work it out.

Answer 4

Faith is blind submission. Hope is what gets you out of bed every morning. Those two should not be confused. It's ok to believe in something but to have faith, it leaves your morality in the mercy of all types of corruption. In other words, if you have faith your car will start in the morning, it isn't because of some miracle, you know because you take care of it every chance you get. This means certainty. Don't confuse hope with the blind submission of a religion. Faith is doing what your told regardless of what's right(ie. Abraham's willingness to kill his son). Morality is doing what's right regardless of what your told. If you need a supernatural explanation for why you do the right, moral thing, you aren't moral, you're faithful, and your morality is at the mercy of all sorts of corruption: schizophrenia, dreams, corrupt, power-hungry religious leaders, political institutions, peer pressure, media. It is better to be a secular humanist than a religious one. If your taking a view that there is value in the moral systems produced by religions then that concept is in opposition to humanism. It is the morality of religions, and especially the confidence that such systems have implicit value, that have led, and continue to lead, to some of the greatest harms and injustices in our societies. Because, religion is based on a fundamentally dangerous and immoral concept, that of forgiveness by proxy. The belief that a god can forgive you for the harms you commit against others. This allows crimes to go unpunished. Religion is based on faith, which is the acceptance of ideas in the absence of evidence, or even in the face of contradictory evidence. This leads to false knowledge and a false view of reality. This has nothing to do with hope because it's ok to have individual hope. It's ok to have individual hope but it's not the same as faith. Religious elites confuse these two on purpose, so they can have more willing servants. It's not a question of loyalty but of individuality. Let people be themselves. Let them be free. It's ok to believe in something but to have faith, it's dangerous.

Answer 5

They are similar, but used in different contexts, they accrue different connotations. English is full of words whose denotative meanings are the same or similar, but whose connotations show subtle shades of differing implications. I hope the sun will rise tomorrow. I have faith the sun will rise tomorrow. Fairly similar sentences, yes? Only the first seems to imply a wish, while the second connotes an expectation. Used in terms of religious thought, the meanings of the words in context drift ever farther apart.

Answer 6

Hope is faith putting out its hand into the darkness. We trust in the things we believe and hope in the things we cannot see.

Answer 7

In my childhood, I also got to realise the same thing. A few years later, my friend also said the same thing to me. And now I see that these two are someabout same things. Faith is your assumption of something to be true, but as you fear in your sub-conscious (or say inwardly) that it might not be true, a bit of your faith start to give reaction to that and that reaction is hope that means conscious effort of denying the negative possibility. (Great question, cheers !)

Answer 8

Faith is a tool used much in the manor of breaking ground in so doing the result is hope , there is room enough for the next generation to grow in.

Answer 9

Are people really this dense.

Look

hope is a "feeling" - its a feeling that the outcome of a given situation will turn out the way you want it to regardless of what the circunstances are

faith is a "belief" - it is belief in something that is unknow - like god for instance

beliefs - no matter how odd - are based in some form of logic

feelings - no matter what they are based in are ALWAYS emotions

They are two distinct and different things.

Answer 10

hope do not relate to something. on the other hand, faith relate some some religion, subject or teaching and it is more profound. hope is shallow. but hope can lead to true faith.