Early in World War I, Virginia Woolf wrote these words: “The future is dark, which is on the whole, the best thing the future can be….” It is tempting to assume that darkness simply hides the unknown and the threatening. It is more challenging to think of it as Woolf did: rich with possibility in even the most desperate times. As Howard Thurman put it, the darkness may be luminous.

We live in what many would readily describe as dark times. These times have brought (among much else) a once-in-a-century public health crisis, the continued redemption of toxic white supremacy and autocratic leadership, declining trust in and support for public institutions, and growing evidence of impending climate devastation.

“Dark is the Best Thing the Future Can Be” will consider some scenes of devastation that define our desperate times, and mine them for insights into our predicaments and our prospects.

Paul Taylor is a professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University whose work focuses mostly on the philosophy of race and aesthetics.