Existentialism the idea that there is no point to focus on existence as your existence is your dasein and you should not worry about anything other than your dasien.
60’s/70s/80s based on existentialism
“The rebel’s weapon is the proof of his humanity. This is irrepressible violence is man re-creating himself”.
Existentialists say you should make that decision yourself- It’s all about choice.
violence is like a accelerated choice- you get stuck in. DO something. Violence is the ultimate type of choice.
“God is dead” Brilliant says Nietzsche, before we were told what to do and think. It was all nonsense, this is no super structure. We have complete freedom.
This is Nietzsche’s The transvaluation of all values
This is it, there is no other region. We can choose what is good or bad, there is no hierarchy telling us or guiding us.
If we are all different and there is no absolute morality we have different morals.
Kant- we are guided by our
Locke- natural rights
Rousseau- general will- rules set out to guide us
Nietzsche says a load of rubbish/ nonsense, we have our own rules.
Nobody gives us these morals, not even God.
Ubermensch- The superman the overman, the things we are told as human beings the ubermensch say nonsense i will work this out myself. The ubermensch will overcome and ignore other values set out.
10 commandments- Children- taught they would be ok if they learnt it.
But if you say non of this is relevant you have no-one to follow, no plan to go. How can you live in a god-less universe. The only thing you have is choice. Make your own internal reality. Everything is neither right or wrong it is your own choice.
Heidegger
The existentialists just concern over our existence. Not the outer world.
There is reason in the world. But where does it come from?
It is Dasein. Simply us, we are dasein.
Hiedegger says this was a disaster. People shouldn’t of believed this.
If these two things are completely differentness how do they react? it’s like a ghost lifting a chair- two different substances cannot react.
How can the mind and the body be different how can they react. You cannot move a chair with your mind for example.
-Hume says you cant, you’ll never know anything. Billboard example. Anything in the future is unknowable, everything can be falsified.
Dasein is ‘being in the world.’
I’m in journalism, i’m engaged with it”. Me on the world is not my existence my existence is the interaction and engagement i make with the world. I make this through choice. You have to make a choice to engage with something.
Dasein is your engagement with the world.
If you look at someone through the existentialism body. You would not see the physical being, the soul what you would see is every decision that that person would have made.
Nietzsche ‘slave morality’ the ubermensch. The slave following religion/rules. If we want to be an ubermensch we must overcome this.
Heidegger says the same. You should not be cowardly and dodge decisions.
-Bad faith -self conscious people “i don't want to be seen driving in this” Das Man- you worried about other people, its not you making decisions to find your self you are worried what everyone says and thinks of you.
Is simply the facts of what bought you here.
Where you were born. All of the facts that have happened up to this point in your life is a persons facticity. If you are defined what has come before this moment you are DAS MAN. you are imperfect. “I had a tough up being” “I don’t stand a chance here” this is you being defined by your facticity (Your past) “University is hard because no one in my family has gone to university” this is defining yourself as what has come before.
you could of been born anywhere.
You local team, British Blood- is nonsense. It is just blood luck. Nationality is a complete slavishly following your facticity.
Thats all you knew, it was never your choice where you were born. Who your parents are is simply your facticity.
You shouldn’t base your life on your facticity says Heidegger.
It is just moral luck where you end up
It’s Nietzschian.
-Your facticity is not you. It’s just blind luck.
We react to our facticity.
We are being in our world
We are defined by our facticity but if we fight our facticity we live an authentic life.
It’s our reaction to our facility, if you are cowed down by your facticity we are living an unauthentic life.
Interpreted it, we do not need to be victims, We choose not to be victims, to fight against people who make us a victim.
For example- Simone de Beauvoir “one is not born a women, but becomes a women.” We are defined by our own essence
Existentialists generally believe at any choice you make you can recreate yourself.
Your facticity is your past.
Your future is the choices you make.
If you want to be a sheep then Stare says this is ‘bad faith’ .
We start to realise that we are: alone etc.....
Abandonment- we feel abandoned, God is Dead there is no one to tell us how to act.
Anguish- Humans are fundamentally free, condemned to be free. We have no excused we are responsible for everything we are. You cannot blame anyone else, thats your facticity. You are defined by your choices not your past. We had no choice on our past, why get so hung up on it. Don’t define yourself on your facticity.
Stare’s pupil ( a real example of a pupil in the second world war, the choice for a boy to look after his mother whilst the nazi’s were in france, or should he go and join the resistance and fight the germans)
Obviously he loves his mother. But the only chance to get rid of the Nazi’s is to fight them.
Choice between his mother and joining the Free French.
Abandonment, Anguish- the choice where nothing really has any point anyway and despair.
Most people think that because you have a certain role they have expectations of you.
Students, workers.
Sartre says...No you are radically free, you have no obligations on you.
It’s your simple choice what you do.
Not interpreting someone’s hint they like you. It’s your choice to engage with someone physically and intimately the moment of choice is the key thing.
If a man put his hand on the table you can choice to put your hand with his and let him know you want to be with him or you don’t.
But this women leaves her hand on his but makes her hand an object. It doesn’t mean anything, she ignores the choice she has made. She dodged the choice, this is bad faith. Misleading, leading someone on. She is ignoring her hand, from a undefined this to a defined thing.
A man with gay experiences should he call himself gay? but that is in the past that is his facticity he can make a new choice.
You have the ability to change you are not an object.
If you said I must be gay because of my experiences Sartre says NO. You are basing this on the past. You can decide now.
Albert Camus
The Stranger
Meursault the protagonist of this book appears emotionless and makes choices without the opinions of others effecting him.
The death of his mother provoke little in the way of emotion for him. He would consider others but not let this effect his choices. When he was sat next to his mothers coffin Meursault smoked. "I felt like i should smoke, I didn't know if i should do it with mumma there, i thought about it, it didn't matter.
Thoughts like these contributed to his sentencing for killing someone. He again showed know remorse.
The theme of this book is cited as an example of existentialist although Camus did not regard himself as one. Meursault lived a life where he did not live in bad faith. He continued to stick to his own choices and the past didn't matter to him. This is a key idea to existentialists.
The belief that ther eis no point to anything at all we would call nihilism. Existentialism is not the same view exactly, though the difference is subtle. The 'point' of things for existentialism is subjectively defined and a social activity like a political stance or a relationship is freely entered into and is enagegd for itself, and not for thesake of others, or for the sake of fiting in with the the idea of doing the right thing in terms of societal norms. So a free relationship between two lovers gives a huge point to lifefor example, far more than for a religious person who does not really beleive the religion, but goes along with it. There are existentialist religious people - they would be the ones who really fantaicallt believe in the religion (like Kirkegaard). For existentialist there is 'no point' in something unless you are passionate about it. Camus was probably a nihilist at the end of his life. The inescapable conclusion of nihilism must be either suicide or a leap of faith into something like the religious life of a monk or nun. Good notes though.
ReplyDeleteAbout Nihilism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ajv-RrQs4o
The lighter side of nihilism. I love the line "Are these people Nazis? No, they are just nihilists, there's nothing to be afraif of...": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AEMiz6rcxc