Fiacha D. Heneghan is an independent scholar and tutor, who completed his PhD at Vanderbilt University in 2020. He has published journal articles in Philosophy Today, Southwest Philosophy Review and Idealistic Studies. He has published 3 book chapters. For four years he was Research Assistant to Julian Wuerth for The Cambridge Kant Lexicon.

• Abbreviations for Primary SourcesIntroduction: Conscience, the Good and Philosophical Consolations1. Optimism, Epicureanism and the Lisbon Earthquake2. Kant’s Commonsense Critique of Stoic and Epicurean Ethics3. The Problem of the Highest good4. Radical HopeConclusion: The Limits of Hopeful PessimismBibliography

Through a meticulous engagement with Kant’s writings on hope and the highest good, Heneghan develops a notion of radical hope through which philosophy becomes more than a consolation for the existence of suffering, but also an ethical approach to contemporary moral crises with seemingly impossible solutions, such as looming environmental catastrophe.