Abstract
There has been a considerable amount of research concerning Kantian hope, but
focused on the perspective of Kant’s moral and religious philosophy. In this essay, I will
present the Kantian theory of theoretical hope, as found in the first Critique. My argument first
establishes that there is such a thing as Kantian theoretical hope. And the second part of the
argument defines Kantian theoretical hope as a priori, necessary, and universal within the use
of reason and understanding, or, in Kantian terms, as a transcendental concept.