Is there such a thing as false hope?

[Ghost]

Hmmm, is there such a thing as "false" love?

Well if the Singletons Sofa is anything to go by then, yes

Ultimately you can only love someone else . You'll never truly know if they love you

[straycat]

Ultimately you can only love someone else . You'll never truly know if they love you

But you can always hope

[Dreadful Scathe]

So when is it acceptable to give false hope? and if you know the outcome to be bad would you consider lying to give the person some peace? What if you only suspect the outcome??

This thread is about whether false hope exits or not and i think we have established it does. We can have another thread about the ethics of false hope if you wish but you start it

[David Bailey]

This thread is about whether false hope exists or not and i think we have established it does.

Nope, I don't agree. Us kind and gentle True Hopers have not fought it tooth-and-nail, is all.

But to me, "False hope" is like "False love" - or for that matter, "False hatred" - it just doesn't make sense.

[straycat]

This thread is about whether false hope exits or not and i think we have established it does.

Not in my world

[Barry Shnikov]

I'll leave you to do the huffing and puffing. You're just so good at it (and my house is pretty strong - it can take it)

Touché!

[Barry Shnikov]

Not in my world

Can I just check here: you don't see any difference between giving someone hope when there is a chance it might work out, and giving someone hope when there is no chance?

Yes / no answer please; no distractions about 'how can you be sure that there is no chance', unless you want to argue that one can never be sure there is no chance. (And if you want argue that then you really are living in a different world from me.)

[David Bailey]

Can I just check here: you don't see any difference between giving someone hope when there is a chance it might work out, and giving someone hope when there is no chance?

I think the point of Us Truebies is that you can't "give" someone hope - in the same way you can't give them love or hate. So the question doesn't make sense - from a certain point of view.
Yes, I'm quoting Star Wars. So sue me.

[straycat]

Can I just check here: you don't see any difference between giving someone hope when there is a chance it might work out, and giving someone hope when there is no chance?

The way I see it. Someone is desperately hoping that X is true. I believe that X is not true. Now - is there a difference between fuelling their hopes, by lying to them, or pouring cold water on those same hopes by telling the truth as I see it? Of course there's a difference.

Please note (this is for DS' benefit) - by saying this, I am not conceding that I think there's any such thing as false hope - it's just that I think we've exhausted that particular line of argument, so I'm not going to make an effort to keep the debate going.

[MartinHarper]

But to me, "False hope" is like "False love".

Would you prefer to talk of "unrequited hope"?

[LMC]

^^^ that makes sense to me.

AFA whether there is such a thing as false hope: FENCE!

It seems to me that hope is a feeling: it may not be logical - but if it exists, it exists. An individual cannot be feeling "false" hope: they hope or they don't, end of.

However, A could be 'giving' false hope to B through delivery of incorrect information/surmise.

In other words, everyone is right.

Do I win the Pink Fluffiness Award? Now, where did I leave that bucket...

[Barry Shnikov]

I think the point of Us Truebies is that you can't "give" someone hope - in the same way you can't give them love or hate. So the question doesn't make sense - from a certain point of view.
Yes, I'm quoting Star Wars. So sue me.

Time to restart the medication. You can't give someone hope? That's just nonsense.

[Jhutch]

^^^ that makes sense to me.

AFA whether there is such a thing as false hope: FENCE!

It seems to me that hope is a feeling: it may not be logical - but if it exists, it exists. An individual cannot be feeling "false" hope: they hope or they don't, end of.

However, A could be 'giving' false hope to B through delivery of incorrect information/surmise.

In other words, everyone is right.

Do I win the Pink Fluffiness Award? Now, where did I leave that bucket...

I tried that approach a while back in this thread but it didn't stop them Maybe you will have more luck?

[Twirly]

I think the point of Us Truebies is that you can't "give" someone hope - in the same way you can't give them love or hate. So the question doesn't make sense - from a certain point of view.
Yes, I'm quoting Star Wars. So sue me.

DJ the Optimist?! Whatever next?!

[Dreadful Scathe]

An individual cannot be feeling "false" hope: they hope or they don't, end of.

However, A could be 'giving' false hope to B through delivery of incorrect information/surmise.

In other words, everyone is right.

No they're not .

An individual CAN feel "false hope" if their expectations are unreasonable e.g. hoping a kidnapped loved one is still alive when they've received all their limbs, their liver and one kidney in the post. Don't try and claim people are 100% reasonable about the death of a loved one, theres plenty of evidence that this is not true.

An individual can also experience "false hope" because the police perhaps didn't tell them about the bodily organs they received in the post. As Barry said, there are millions of examples of false hope - it simply means hope for something that is not likely to , or will not happen. As Beo said call it Bob if you will, it really doesn't matter

Are we all defending a pretentious American tv show quote ?

[straycat]

Are we all defending a pretentious American tv show quote ?

Well - if you don't think West Wing is worthy of this debate, let's pretend the quote came from here instead...

[andystyle]

So the question doesn't make sense - from a certain point of view.

Yes, I'm quoting Star Wars. So sue me.

Obi-Wan in the house...

[LMC]

An individual CAN feel "false hope" if their expectations are unreasonable ...

Now see, I wouldn't call that false hope. I'd call it unreasonable hope.

It is impossible to feel something falsely, you either feel it or you don't. Nothing to do with reason.

[Ghost]

Time to restart the medication. You can't give someone hope? That's just nonsense.

David I'm sure if you just explain yourself really clearly in your next post Barry will realise the error of his ways and agree with you.

Feeling that warm fuzzy false hope yet?

[David Bailey]

David I'm sure if you just explain yourself really clearly in your next post Barry will realise the error of his ways and agree with you.

Feeling that warm fuzzy false hope yet?

Nope, but I hope that LMC's just explained it for me