"If a student tells me she has attempted suicide twice, what should I say?"

BarcelonaWhen Francesc Torralba (Barcelona, ​​1967) began teaching philosophy at the university, only five years older than his students. "Now I'm almost forty years older than them," he explains. "One of the changes between then and now is that I currently observe very high levels of disenchantment among students, both in the classroom and in tutorials." Torralba's new essay, Anatomy of Hope —which won the 2026 Josep Pla Prize—, stems from the unease he has observed in society in recent years, particularly affecting young people. "They are constantly bombarded with negative messages," the author continues. "They are told they will have precarious contracts, that they will never be able to buy a 60-square-meter apartment."² in Barcelona, ​​and that they will experience relationships marked by volatility." Adding to the negativity about the future is the media's portrayal of the present. "The news and newspapers tell us that both the local and global worlds are falling apart," he adds. "He has attempted suicide twice, what do I tell him?" he asks.

Anatomy of Hope It aspires to become a map for navigating an uncertain and disenchanted world like today's. "One of the authors who most clearly represented the lack of air and water, ultimately, despair, was Franz Kafka “—he admits—. Their perspective helps me to talk about several artists and writers who have championed this state of mind.” He contrasts the negativity ofThe scream (1892) ofEdvard Munch to the positivity of the pregnant woman who painted Gustav Klimt to Hope II (1907-1908). "I also analyze the perspective of several thinkers from the first decades of the 20th century, including Gabriel Marcel, Ernst Bloch, and Albert Camus: they all explain why hope is essential and reasonable," he continues.

A collective cry

For Francesc Torralba, hope "is not a given, but it is related to the confidence that the future can be bright." If disillusionment leads you "to inactivity, passivity, and paralysis, and, in extreme cases, to self-destruction," hope has other properties: "It stimulates action," the philosopher argues. "If you believe it's possible to change things, you stand with us." To illustrate his thesis, Torralba cites three changes that, a priori, seemed "improbable": "The suffragettes succeeded in getting women the right to vote, the situation of workers has improved greatly compared to the pre-Marx era, and finally, Gandhi managed to persuade an entire people, the Indian people, to achieve liberation through non-violence."

"Constancy and perseverance are values ​​we associate with hope," he continues. Sometimes we sow the seeds, and it will be our children or grandchildren who reap the harvest.” For Torralba, “the intergenerational dimension in struggles” is fundamental: “Achieving change costs blood, sweat, and tears. But so does maintaining it.” He mentions, as examples, the fragility of democracy and the disinvestment in key infrastructure such as commuter rail. “We must know how to transmit to young people what we have done to face adversity and what struggles we defend,” he affirms.

There are two elements of the current world that work against the patient cultivation of hope. “One is the intolerance of waiting, which makes us tire and become frustrated more than necessary,” says Torralba. The other is “the culture of immediacy.” “There are objects of desire that are not immediate,” he continues. “If you want to be a doctor, you have to study for six years, pass many exams, and perhaps even face unexpected setbacks, such as your family not being able to pay your tuition.” Stubbornness and determination are necessary to get where we want to be.